Let It Shine by Ashley Bryan.

Winner of the 2008 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, this book truly has artwork that shines, lifting it to an entirely different level.  The book offers the words of three hymns:  This Little Light of Mine, Oh When the Saints Go Marching In, and He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.  There is a joy in all three of the hymns that is captured by the cut-paper artwork that fairly sings along with the reader.  The book and the art have rhythms and patterns carried from page to page.  Each page is filled with an exuberance, bright colors, sweeping lines, and always light.  It is a real treat to find such a book, a thrill to share it with children, and a joy to know that it fully deserved the award.

Highly recommended for sharing and singing aloud.  I don’t see how you can even start to page through the book without humming and tapping your toes.

Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller by Sarah Miller.

This is the story of Annie Sullivan, the woman who was Helen Keller’s teacher.  It is the story of her early life and the two months that she spent trying to reach Helen and bring her the gift of language.  The book is written in first person, so the reader can experience Annie’s frustrations, personal tragedies, and loneliness.   There is no mincing of words or shirking from the beast that Helen Keller had grown to be when Annie came to teach her.  Likewise her unorthodox methods are not sugar-coated either.  This leads to a gutsy novel full of great details that explain the young woman who was Annie Sullivan.

I could not put this book down.  It is as different from the film versions of Helen Keller’s life as can be.  Annie comes to life in the prose, her haunting childhood, her own disabilities, her own desperate need to connect with someone.  There are several devices used to show and not tell her loneliness, including her showering attention and love on a doll.  These are powerful and private moments that serve to illuminate Annie, allowing the reader to feel for this teacher who must resort to strong discipline to reach Helen in her deaf and blind world.  There are historical photos and information at the end of the book which further explain their relationship as teacher and student through the rest of their lives.

Highly recommended for 10-13 year olds who enjoy true stories and who may have seen the films.