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Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller

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Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller

Paperback(Reprint)

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Paperback(Reprint)
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Overview

A heartwarming portrait of an unforgettable woman by the critically acclaimed author of Abe's Honest Words and Martin's Big Words.

This picture book biography is an excellent and accessible introduction for young readers to learn about one of the world’s most influential luminaries. With her signature style of prose laced with stirring quotes, Doreen Rappaport brings to life Helen Keller’s poignant narrative. Acclaimed illustrator Matt Tavares beautifully captures the dynamism and verve of Helen Keller’s life and legacy, making Helen's Big World an unforgettable portrait of a woman whose vision for innovation and progress changed America—and the world—forever.

Product Details
About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781484749609
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	05/09/2017
Series:	A Big Words Book , #6
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	663,418
Product dimensions:	9.80(w) x 10.80(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	AD770L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Doreen Rappaport has written numerous award-winning books for children, including: Freedom Ship and The School Is Not White, both illustrated by Curtis James; Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., illustrated by Bryan Collier, a Caldecott Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Honor Book, Orbis Pictus Honor Book, and a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award winner; Abe's Honest Words: The Life of Abraham Lincoln, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, CCBC Best Book of the Year, and an IRA Teacher’s Choice; Eleanor, Quiet No More, illustrated by Gary Kelly; and Jack’s Path of Courage, illustrated by Matt Tavares. She lives and writes in upstate New York, and she invites you to visit her online at doreenrappaport.com.

Matt Tavares is the illustrator of several books, including 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, Jack and the Beanstalk, written by E. Nesbit, Iron Hans: A Grimms' Fairy Tale, retold by Stephen Mitchell, Lady Liberty: A Biography, and Jack’s Path of Courage, both written by Doreen Rappaport. His books have won several awards, including four Parents' Choice Gold Awards, a Parents' Choice Silver Honor, two Oppenheim Gold Seal Awards, and an International Reading Association Children's Book Award. His illustrations have been exhibited at the Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators, and at the Brandywine River Museum. Matt lives in Maine with his wife and two daughters, and he invites you to visit him online at matttavares.com.

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Editorial Reviews

Helen’s Big World covers the whole span of Helen’s life from birth through her many years with Annie and after. Rappaport characteristically uses quotes to extend and heighten the emotion. A timeline at the end helps put important dates in perspective. Though this book focuses more on Helen than on Annie, readers get a more acute awareness of how much Annie sacrificed for Helen, Tavares’ illustrations are, per the title, big and bold and often in intense close-up. Stirring and awe-inspiring.”—The Horn Book

“While there are many books available about Helen Keller for this age group, this title offers a unique and beautiful perspective on her life.” —School Library Journal

“A magisterial account.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Appearing beside broad, horizontal illustrations, Rappaport’s narrative is spaced out in poetic form. [The] sometimes dramatic illustrations show just how big Helen’s world could be, picturing her in a college classroom, in a tree, on a stage, and in a factory with child laborers. The back endpapers illustrate the alphabet of hand signs that Sullivan taught Keller. Readers intrigued by the Braille alphabet can feel the raised red dots on the jacket, which spell out the book’s title. A worthwhile addition to biography shelves.” —Booklist

From the Publisher

This magnificent account immerses young readers in the dark lows and subsequent highs of Keller's story. Rappaport's text…is perfectly attuned to the mind of a child. Tavares's paintings are steeped in emotion…
—Pamela Paul

The New York Times Book Review

Punctuating the narrative with excerpts from Keller's own writing, Rappaport and Tavares, previously paired on Jack's Path of Courage, take a sweeping approach to their picture book biography, beginning when Keller was a healthy baby ("The beginning of my life was simple and much like every other little life") and ending with her death at 87, when she had long been a national icon and social activist ("my love for America is not blind. Perhaps I am more conscious of her faults because I love her so deeply"). While Annie Sullivan remains a pivotal figure (many key scenes from The Miracle Worker are replayed), it's refreshing to see Keller granted a greater sense of agency, even if the book leans toward hagiography. There is one exception: a single image that appears right before Sullivan's arrival, in which Helen's mother struggles to comfort her writhing, disconsolate daughter. Dark and almost demonic, it conveys instantly both the catastrophic nature of Helen's disabilities and the steely will that raged to be unleashed. Ages 6–8. Agent: Faith Hamlin, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. Illustrator's agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

K-Gr 4—In a format similar to Martin's Big Words (Hyperion, 2001), Rappaport uses quotations from Helen Keller to provide the framework for this picture-book biography. A great design, incorporating the words in large type, makes this book visually striking. Large scale paintings, rendered in watercolor, pencil, and gouache, are presented on one and a half or double pages. The full images, without borders, invite children into Helen's world, while showing how big it truly became. The opening endpaper showcases the pivotal "water" moment, with teacher Annie Sullivan's and the child's hands accompanied by the quotation, "We do not think with eyes and ears, and our capacity for thought is not measured by five senses." The narrative begins at Keller's childhood home, but expands out to describe her experiences at college, with public speaking, and in championing social causes. A series of excerpts from letters demonstrates her growing proficiency in writing. A dramatic spread shows the pupil and teacher in a boat, majestically cresting a wave, emphasizing what the youngster does experience more than what she does not. While there are many books available about Helen Keller for this age group, this title offers a unique and beautiful perspective on her life.—Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA

School Library Journal

Helen Keller's transcendent leap across the barriers of her blindness and deafness continues to inspire. Rappaport recounts the well-known events of Helen's childhood—the illness that left her blind and deaf as a toddler, her wild willfulness and the advent of Annie Sullivan's companionship and tutelage with liberating results. The wide and tall trim size of this work allows Tavares' full, close-up, edge-to-edge paintings to bring readers into the story and helps convey Helen's passion, energy and delight as she defeats her limitations. Generous white space given to the text and the large font for Helen's own words in every spread invites readers to come close to the subject, to understand Helen's thrill at learning about the world and to taste some of her intense purpose and passion. What Rappaport adds to the familiar story about Keller is that this determined woman was never inclined to be pigeonholed. Keller continued to hunger after information, to learn about the world and to talk about it: "She spoke against war…and for the right of women to vote and for justice for black Americans." Rappaport reveals that Keller had her critics, but once given a voice, she used it. There, one begins to realize, is the real story of Keller's impressive life. A magisterial account. (author's & illustrator's notes, timeline, sources) (Picture books/biography. 6-10)

Kirkus Reviews

Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller

Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller

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