She Touched the World: Laura Bridgman, Deaf-Blind Pioneer

by Robert Alexander, Sally Hobart Alexander, Robert Alexander

Book Overview

When she was just two years old, Laura Bridgman lost her sight, her hearing, and most of her senses of smell and taste. At the time, no one believed a child with such severe disabilities could be taught to communicate, much less lead a full and productive life. But then a progressive doctor, who had just opened the country's first school for the blind in Boston, took her in. Laura learned to communicate, read, and write--and eventually even to teach...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0618852999
• ISBN13: 9780618852994
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.4" x 10.2"
• Age Range: 10 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 7

Customer Reviews

This light, airy and well-done biography of Laura Bridgman is a winner!

Laura was a sickly baby born to Harmony and Daniel Bridgman, but they didn't seek out a doctor's help because that just wasn't done in1829. People didn't trust doctors and to have to pay only added insult to injury. When she was an infant, she had "fits," but these disappeared when she was almost two-years-old, but a few months later scarlet fever took the life of her two sisters, her own hearing and eyesight. She would later remember that horrible time, yet would relish the visual imagery of what came before. She was inquisitive and quite smart. Her mother taught her to do many household chores and learned to sew and knit. "It was as if her hands and fingers could see." Communication was quite another matter and she had very few means at her disposal other than pushing, pulling, patting and asking for a drink by putting her hand to her lips. A letter placed in a newspaper by Dr. Reuben Mussey describing Laura brought unexpected help. Samuel Gridley Howe came to Etna, New Hampshire to take her to Perkins School for the Blind where she would begin a new life, one that would astound the world. This is a very thoughtful and carefully written biography. In recent years more people are becoming aware that there was a young woman before Helen Keller who was equally famous in her day, one of whom more children need to be made aware of. There are numerous photographs, source notes, a bibliography, an index and additional recommended websites listed in the back. This light, airy and well-done biography of Laura Bridgman is a winner!

An utterly fascinating and inspirational true-life story

Written for young adults and teenagers, She Touched the World: Laura Bridgman, Deaf-Blind Pioneer is the biographical story of Laura Bridgman (1829-1889), the first deaf-blind American child to receive a significant education in the English language, fifty years before the more famous Hellen Keller. With the help of a doctor, determined to find a way to help this intelligent, curious young girl communicate with the world despite the limitations of her own body, she became a teacher and an inspiration to others - and when Helen Keller's mother learned about Bridgman's achievements, she knew that her own daughter could be helped. An utterly fascinating and inspirational true-life story, illustrated with a handful of black-and-white photographs. Highly recommended especially for high school and public library collections.

Laura Bridgman gets her due!

This is so good I'm going to quote the introduction in full: "If you had lived in 1841, the name Laura Bridgman would have echoed through your home, your school, your neighborhood. It would have rung out in the streets of Boston, in the halls of Congress, and across the ocean to England and Europe and beyond. By the time Laura Bridgman was twelve years old, she was that famous. "Like all children, you would have loved and admired her. You would have named your favorite doll after her....And then you would have poked out the doll's eyes." I just love that. You may not have heard of her (unless perhaps you've recently read a book I'm rather fond of called Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller!) but without Laura Bridgman, there would have been no Helen Keller. Laura's education began to change the way the world saw disability, and it's a delight to see her getting the attention she deserves. This is biography at its best - snappy, accurate writing with just the right amount of context. There are no imaginings or dramatizations here to sully the facts, yet the text is lively and engaging. Matter of fact, it didn't make a difference that I've already read and/or own most of the authors' sources on Laura; the information still felt fresh. Oh, and did I mention that one of the authors is herself blind and hearing impaired? Yeah. The lady knows of what she speaks.