I am Helen Keller (Ordinary People Change the World)

This is a wonderful book!!! However....it gets only four stars from me because it is written explicitly for sighted children. I bought one for my daughter (she is sighted) and another for a friend of mine whose 8 month old little boy loves to hear stories (he is blind). But after reading it, it is not for a blind child that is too young to understand they have a difference, and I actually may not yet give it to my own child because it describes being blind as scary and how her relatives thought she was "a monster". It begins with "when I was little I was just like you" (and goes on to describe how much she loved to see different things). So obviously, it's not a book for the blind child, because when they say "just like you", they're referring to only sighted kids. Also, my daughter (2 1/2) is too young to understand that the monster they're referring to in the book has a different meaning and that times were different back then. She'll understand later, but especially with a blind friend, i will probably just edit the story as I read it to her or just wait until her understanding grows a bit.
The rest of the book is amazing!!! There is an actual Braille alphabet and some wonderful inspiration for all (sighted and not!) I just really wish it wasn't written in such a way to exclude verbatim story telling to blind children. I really thought it would be the perfect gift for them, but it's not.

I heard about this book from the author on the radio the other day and it sounded brilliant so I bought it and thought I might give it as a gift to my son's first grade class. I received the book yesterday in the mail and my 3rd grade daughter read it before I even had a chance to look through it. She was so memorized by the story that she insisted on reading it to me immediately. It was such a well written book explaining the life of Helen Keller and all the obstacles she had to overcome. Now I have decided to give it to my daughter's 3rd grade teacher because I think that 3rd graders might be more effected by the story. Can't wait to try another book written by Mr. Meltzer.

Disclaimer: I’ve written the same review to almost all the books on this series. My daughter and son loves them.

Been purchasing the whole series for a few months now. Super easy readings for kids, even for the 20-min trip between house and school. Interesting lives, and you can later discuss the story with the kids. I have found that most of them (stories) stick to their minds, even recalling full names and events a few weeks/months later.

As I've always loved biographies, I thought I'd use this version to introduce our 2 grandgirls to such an amazing person, Helen Keller. At first thought it might be a bit lengthy (they are just going to be 6 this summer), but it is so well written. Even our 3 year old grandson was quoting the book to me this week. Getting to actually FEEL braille letters and see real photographs of Helen aided them in learning and remembering her story. Now I'm trying to decide which famous person's story to get for their next gifts. The girls and their brothers will enjoy each and every one.

I live in Alabama about 20 miles from Helen Keller's home in Tuscumbia. When my granddaughters came for spring break we visited Helen Keller's home. My ten-year-old granddaughter doesn't enjoy reading but I ordered this book for her. Because she had seen the home and had it appealed to her. And when she saw the comic-style drawings she was hooked. A fun way and interesting way to learn more about history.

This series is phenomenal! As an educator and parent, I am so grateful for these books. This one is a wonderful story, written and illustrated beautifully.
My daughter (6) was also very excited that there was actual braille in the book. She brought it to school to show all her friends.

We have several books from this series, which we just love. This one is really cool, it has a good story, and is interactive with a page that has a braille alphabet for the kids to try. There is also a page with some pictures of objects with the braille label so the kids can try and spell out a word.

This is such an amazing book.

We love these books. My son is 6 years old. We’ve been collected these titles for the last year and have every one in the set. He asks to read a different one every night and is learning to read them on his own. They are very educational and also entertaining. It’s amazing how much he has learned about Rosa Parks, Jim Henson, and all of the subjects of the books. He went as Jackie Robinson for book character day because, in his words, Jackie was so brave and a hero. His kindergarten teacher told me they were talking about differences and he started telling all his classmates about Gandhi. Amazing! These books have a great message and should be in everyone's library.

I bought this for my students so they could read about the lives of famous people from the time they were children. My third grade students love, love, love the I am series. To see third graders loving biographies as much as Dog-Man is most inspiring and has us on our way to wide reading for the year!