{Put This One on Your TBR List}
Book Review: Miss
Spitfire (Reaching Helen Keller) by Sarah Miller
by Karen S. Wiesner
This post is a little late for National Teacher Day, celebrated annually on the Tuesday of the first full week of May, but better late than never! While it's touted as a historical children's story, anyone who loves Helen Keller and inspirational stories is sure to enjoy this one.
My first experience with Sarah Miller was a novel called Caroline, a novelized take of the Laura Ingalls Wilder tales from the point of view of Laura's patient, gentle, long-suffering mother. I enjoyed very much seeing familiar, beloved scenes written from the viewpoint of another character--one who's so different from impulsive, headstrong Laura. This is one of Miller's great loves--fictionalized retakes of stories we know told in a unique point of view. Other accounts Miller's done are of Lizzie Borden, Lorena Hickok (friend of first lady Eleanor Roosevelt); Mary Surratt, the first woman to be executed for her alleged involvement in Lincoln's assassination; along with an alternate view of Alcott's beloved Little Women from the perspective of Margaret March.
When I saw the author's first release in July 10, 2007 was a fictionalized version of Helen Keller from the point of view of her teacher Anne Sullivan, I knew I had to read it. I listened to the audiobook of Miss Spitfire (Reaching Helen Keller), which was wonderfully narrated by Terry Donnell, who's also voice-acted many of historical fantasy author Juliet Marillier's books. Her authentic Irish accent brings this account to life in a way few others could have done justice to.
From the youngest age, I loved the story of Helen Keller, who was a spitfire in her own right. I didn't know too much about her teacher, though naturally one develops great respect for anyone willing to put up with the kind of bratty ill-treatment Helen dished out. Anne Sullivan went above and beyond. But she was a hard woman who'd had enough of bad behavior in her childhood (she was 20 when she became Helen's teacher) to refuse to tolerate it, so there were times it wasn't easy to listen to what came off to me as semi-abusive. That said, it was equally hard oftentimes to feel sorry for Helen because she was such a wild animal at first. Even when you understand she lived in a world she couldn't understand with her senses, the way most of us do, it's difficult to imagine the unwavering, compassionate determination of someone like Anne Sullivan after Helen inflicted such injuries and cruelty on her teacher.
Anne herself was a spitfire, an orphan who lost everything, that was put in situations that could easily have broken her. She suffered from partial blindness herself (which became total a year before she died). With no other means to support herself, Anne is tasked with teaching a six-year-old girl how to communicate. Like Anne, Helen hadn't been born blind and deaf (she contracted a severe illness at 19 months old while Anne's partial blindness was the result of an infection when she was five). Both were highly intelligent. At first, Anne's not entirely sure how to go about such a monumental undertaking. At that time, there was little to guide her path when it came to proven methods of teaching the blind and deaf. Because she shares some of the same struggles, Anne can easily imagine what it must be like for this child to grow up feeling like an alien with little place of comfort nor understanding of the wider world she's forced to live in without explanation. In order for Anne to bridge connections between Helen and her world, Anne has to use manual alphabet and tactile methods combined with frustrating initial failures and incremental achievements.
The author based this story on letters Anne wrote, excerpted at the beginning of each chapter. Full warning: This is not an upbeat, gentle tale. It starts out almost overwhelmingly tragic, filled with doubts and painful struggles. However, the thing that wins out above all is the inspirational message. Small, seemingly inconsequential triumphs can lead to success. Anne and Helen's story also makes you see the bigger picture when it comes to conceding defeat too early. Don't give up. The rewards we can reap from patient, dogged determination can domino through generations, far beyond what anyone might hope for or even dream. Helen Keller is and always will be known as a pillar of strength and perseverance--but let's not forget her tenacious teacher, Anne Sullivan, who never conceded defeat when she could so easily have done so and still gotten well-deserved credit for the effort she expended. Don't miss seeing both sides of this timeless, uplifting narrative that speaks boldly of human resilience and resourcefulness.
“Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them.” ~Lady Bird Johnson
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” ~W.B. Yeats
"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” ~Henry Adams
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” ~Helen Keller
“There is always satisfaction in the reflection that, if there were no trials, there would be no victories.” ~Anne Sullivan
Karen
Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16
series.
Visit
her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/
and
https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog
Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/
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