One afternoon after Christmas I sat down to look at my Christmas books (several cookbooks, a watercolor book, Amy Tan’s latest, and this one).  Before I knew it the afternoon was gone, and I finished Miss Spitfire. The others would wait another day.   The book is about Helen Keller’s teacher, Annie Sullivan.  Through the story, you learn about Annie’s history (very lucky to have survived childhood), and how she started as Helen’s teach. When Annie arrived Helen was a very bright 6-year old who had never been disciplined (I sure you know the type from restaurants and airplanes). The story is based on solid  research, but fictionalized story about thoughts and details of day to day happenings makes it so interesting, you just are pulled into it, and can’t put it down.   Helen went from a tyrant imprisoned by her lack of sight and hearing, to being able to communicate.  It’s quite a rare occurrence, and hard to fathom where you even start to do this!  It’s quite a gift that Annie Sullivan had.  The book is targeted towards kids, but that did not slow down my enjoyment!

However, the most interesting thing about this book is that it was written by a daughter of one of my cousins (granddaughter of my oldest aunt on my Mom’s side).  It was a Christmas gift from my Mom.  I don’t know this part of the family well, mostly that they they live in Michigan, so if was quite a surprise there was a writer in the family.   She has a wonderful website and blog, and we have now exchanged several e-mails.  She is also a very avid reader, and turned me on to a website on books  goodreads.com.  Even better, she sent me a brailled and signed bookplate.   I am so lucky!