Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller | 
 enlarge | Author: Sarah Miller
Publisher: Atheneum
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 132297
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.7 x 1
ISBN: 1416925422
EAN: 9781416925422
ASIN: 1416925422
Publication Date: July 10, 2007
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Product Description
Annie Sullivan was little more than a half-blind orphan with a fiery tongue when she arrived at Ivy Green in 1887. Desperate for work, she'd taken on a seemingly impossible job -- teaching a child who was deaf, blind, and as ferocious as any wild animal. But Helen Keller needed more than a teacher. She needed someone daring enough to work a miracle. And if anyone was a match for Helen, it was the girl they used to call Miss Spitfire.For Annie, reaching Helen's mind meant losing teeth as raging fists flew. It meant standing up when everyone else had given up. It meant shedding tears at the frustrations and at the triumphs. By telling this inspiring story from Annie Sullivan's point of view, Sarah Miller's debut novel brings an amazing figure to sharp new life. Annie's past, her brazen determination, and her connection to the girl who would call her Teacher have never been clearer.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
Wonderful book about Annie Sullivan March 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I love this book! When I first read it, I was reminded of reading the play, The Miracle Worker. Ms. Miller has written a wonderful book for children about Annie Sullivan, the teacher who helped Helen Keller connect to the world. I have shared the book with my students and other teachers. Some of my students have commented that they never knew about Annie Sullivan, and how important she was to Helen's education.
More Than Miracle Worker October 13, 2007
Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller's teacher and lifelong friend, tells her own story for middle grade to high school readers in this fictionalized autobiography. Each chapter begins with an excerpt from Sullivan's letters to Sophia Hopkins, a mentor and friend (as well as housemother) from Perkins Institute for the Blind. Annie was sent to serve the Keller family after her own hero journey from Tewksbury orphanage to Perkins, half blind most of the time. While the story will be familiar to anyone who has seen The Miracle Worker with Patty Duke and Ann Bancroft, the details of Sullivan's first teaching job, counter pointed by details from her personal history (sent to the almshouse, the ensuing loss of a brother, her blindness, her trepidation hidden carefully from the Kellers about not being able to help Helen at all) will ring true. The courage and determination of a young woman triumphs in the face of family reluctance and interference which made her efforts to teach Helen Keller the "true meaning" behind the fingerspelled words very difficult. Annie's emphasis on civilized behavior despite disability is remarkable in our own "anything goes" world where comportment has fallen into the world of archaic concepts. The author's afterword is perhaps the heart of the book, telling the story concisely of how 20-year-old Sullivan broke through Helen's shell in a month, and for the next fifty years accompanied her on the incredible journey into the wider world. 11 photographs, an extensive bibliography including books, articles, films and videos plus online resources will help readers continue inquiry if they desire. A two-page chronology of events is also included. The cover includes Braille rendition of the title and subtitle.
Courtesy of Teens Read Too September 21, 2007
While most people have at least heard of Helen Keller, few know much about her teacher, the dedicated and passionate Annie Sullivan. Sarah Miller's MISS SPITFIRE may change that. The novel gives a fictionalized but well-researched narrative, in Annie's own voice, of the first month Annie spent with Helen. Her struggle to reach this wild, blind, and deaf child and overcome the obstacles presented by Helen's family makes a riveting read.
Miller delves deeply into her subject, letting readers in on Annie's early life through memories and flashbacks--of her abusive father, of the horrible years she spent at a state almshouse, and of the better but still difficult years in a school for the blind. Readers will find it easier to sympathize with and relate to her loneliness and longing for affection. It's wonderful to see the parts of her personality that had long been considered flaws--her stubbornness, her fierce temper--become assets in dealing with Helen. More than just a historical figure, in MISS SPITFIRE Annie Sullivan becomes a fully realized human being.
It's clear from the novel that Annie's success didn't come easily. It details every setback and every triumph, no matter how minor, until readers will be racing through the pages waiting to see how she will finally break through to Helen. They may be a little disappointed to discover that the novel ends shortly after that major breakthrough, wishing to read on and continue the journey with Annie. A sequel would certainly be welcome!
MISS SPITFIRE is everything a historical novel should be--richly imagined, true to its period, and providing an engaging story that will feel completely relevant to modern readers.
Reviewed by: Lynn Crow
The Magic of Language September 14, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"My heart is singing for joy this morning."
-Anne Sullivan to Sophia Hopkins, March 1887
So begins one of the chapters in Sarah Miller's debut novel Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, and her quote from Annie Sullivan describes just how I felt when I finished this magical book.
Last spring, I issued an invitation to authors of historical fiction, to send me information about their books for a presentation I'm doing this fall at the New York State Reading Association Conference. I heard from wonderful writers -- some whose works I knew and some who were new to me. But one title REALLY caught my eye: Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller. First, it got my attention because the titles of our books are so similar(Mine is called SPITFIRE). When I opened it up to start reading, it got my attention in another way -- a sweep-you-away-in-the-story kind of way.
Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller tells the story of Annie Sullivan, the young woman who battled beliefs of the time and fought with every ounce of energy she had to give Helen Keller the gift of language. Sarah Miller tells the story in Annie's voice -- and tells it with a passion that speaks to the depth of her research and her pure love for this historical figure. Miss Spitfire not only tells the story we see in The Miracle Worker -- the story of Annie's time with Helen -- but also plunges into Annie Sullivan's past, and in doing so, provides a deeper understanding of the commitment and determination that led to her success.
The portrayals of Annie's emotional, psychological, and physical struggles with Helen were so vivid that I found myself reading with my brow furrowed in determined solidarity with Annie as she plunked Helen back into her seat at the dining room table for the tenth time. Truly, Annie had to be a spitfire to survive this monumental challenge when she was little more than a girl herself.
The minor characters in this novel sparkle, too. One of my favorite scenes brought Helen together for a lesson with the Kellers' servant boy Percy. I felt like I was about to burst with pride right along with Annie when Helen began to turn from a student into a teacher, helping Percy with some of the letters. Mr. & Mrs. Keller, too, are painted with a tremendous depth of understanding. It would have been easy to portray Helen's parents as one-dimensional characters who got in the way of Annie's work, but instead, Sarah Miller helps us to see their complexity and feel some of their anguish at having a beautiful, broken child.
Early in the book, Annie tells Helen's mother why her lessons are so vital to Helen.
"Words, Mrs. Keller, words bridge the gap between two minds. Words are a miracle."
Indeed, they are. And Miss Spitfire will have you believing in that miracle all over again.
Taming Keller August 30, 2007
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
Authors that try to tackle any aspect of Helen Keller's life in a children's literary format are simultaneously blessed and cursed. On the one hand, talk about God's gift to authors. The emotional ups and downs of Helen's tale, the (dare I say) hope of her life, I mean she's a great historical character. Loads more interesting to a nine-year-old than your average everyday biographical figures. So there's that. On the other hand, none of this is a secret. As a result, my library's Helen Keller section of biographies is rivaled only by Martin Luther King Jr. So when I saw that someone had done a middle grade work of fiction regarding Helen and Annie Sullivan's early days, I hardly gave it a thought. Why read what we already know? I mean, if everyone knows a series of facts about someone, can there be any worthwhile reason to read yet ANOTHER story about her life and trials? The answer, as it happens, is yes. Debut author Sarah Miller shows us that even the most familiar story can become edge-of-your-seat gripping when the writing's cool and collected.
There's a reason this book is called "Miss Spitfire". Turns out, that was the nickname bestowed on Annie Sullivan when she attended the Perkins Institute for the Blind. Irish, alone in the world, half-blind, and with guts galore, Ms. Sullivan is terrified at the prospect of her very first job. She's being sent to work with one Helen Keller, a blind, deaf child. The hope is to work a "miracle" on her and teach her to bridge the gap between signing and the use of words. The task turns out to be more than she gambled for, however, when it appears that Helen has had the run of her household for years. Uncivilized, uncouth, and unrepentant, her wishy-washy parents have failed to discipline, thereby allowing Helen to always get what she wants. If Annie didn't see Helen coming, though, you can be darn certain that Helen didn't see Annie either. Now the battle between the two firebrands has begun and it's time to see whether or not the stubbornness of a child who has always had her way can compete with the stubbornness of a woman as tough and smart as Annie Sullivan.
The reason the Helen Keller story works is because Helen is hell on earth. She's not the angelic creature just waiting for a helping hand. No dewy-eyed, saintly personality-challenged naif she. She's not Little Eva or Little Nell. No she was, to use my grandmother's phrase, a pistol. So for a book like this to work you need to really feel for Annie Sullivan. When Helen cracks her in the jaw with a hardheaded doll, you have to want to strangle the child with your own bare hands and not just Annie's. As an author, Miller's smart enough to know how to tease out the dramatic elements of this tale. Seeing Ms. Sullivan's background, you are all the more impressed at her restraint around Helen. Considering that the girl has enough crafty qualities to try the patience of a saint, and considering that Ms. Sullivan's own father was abusive, you would think such tendency towards violence might easily pass down from father to daughter. Instead, the opposite is true. She does not hit because she knows what it is like to be on the receiving end of a blow. I was very taken with the moral in this story that rules and order breed love. It is Annie's restraint and discipline that in the end manages to tease out that love.
Annie's loneliness and need almost becomes their own characters in this book. Right from the start we learn that "The loneliness in my heart is an old acquaintance." Yet Miller plays Annie as increasingly desperate for human affection. She constantly looks for love from Helen, even though the child has little to no interest in forming any kind of a relationship at first. And when a baby gives Annie a kiss (lunging at her, as the text says, "like a lecher"), the woman says that, "Warmth ripples down to my toes," and that she is "Woozy with pleasure." The writing here, as you can see, is good.
Technically I should probably have a copy of The Miracle Worker in front of me for reference. It would allow me to note whether or not the emotional beats in both the play and Helen's story are identical or not. Then again, maybe it's better this way. It's clear that "Miss Spitfire" is a story of Helen's teacher, not just Helen herself. I'm sure that if Miller had wanted to she could have written the book from Helen's point of view, but as far as I can tell that way lays only tears. Seeing Annie's past allows us to note how much she and her young pupil have in common. It's a clever motif. So clever, in fact, that I feel certain that the kids who read this story will have little difficulty getting inside of the mind of an adult. Sometimes there's a disconnect between the protagonist and the reader, particularly in children's novels, if the hero is fully grown. Here I have no qualms.
The book is meticulously referenced, much to my relief. There's an author's note, photographs of the characters and locations, books for further reading, a plethora of websites and videos to visit for further info, a timeline, and even a list of sources (print and online). Better still, Miller knows enough to point out the elements of her tale that jar with the narrative. At one point Annie sing-signs the words to the song "Bessie's Song to Her Doll", because they fit the situation so well. In her Author's Note, Miller is quick to point out that the poem was written some years later by Lewis Carroll and could not have been used as it is here. It just happens to fit the book well.
I did have some questions here and there. As I've said, you get the feeling that Miller was a stickler for historical accuracy. So much so that there is no cleaning up of the real Annie's references to the "little negro boy" who worked in the house. So it was interesting to me that at no point does Annie go about wearing dark glasses ala Anne Bancroft. I assume that this was a theatrical flourish in the stage production of Helen's story that didn't accurately occur at this point in time. I did wish for a mention of it somewhere in the book, though.
And I had some other confusions elsewhere. Miller's book never really clarifies how Annie got out of the almshouse and into the Perkins school for the blind. How was her way paid? We see a brief encounter between her and a man in charge of Perkins, but there's never a full explanation of how that led to her acceptance into the school. I had hoped that maybe the author's note in the back would offer some background, but the only mention of the incident is a cryptic sentence reading, "Annie enters Perkins Institutions for the Blind" without any attention paid to the "hows" behind the sentence.
For me, the book is summarized nicely in the real life quote taken from Anne Sullivan's letters to a Ms. Sophia Hopkins, appearing at the beginning of Chapter Six. "The greatest problem I shall have to solve is how to discipline and control her without breaking her spirit." In the solution we find the heart of the novel. I've read very little historical fiction this year that stayed with me. I like to think that Ms. Miller's book is one of the few worth keeping close at hand. A really enjoyable story.
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