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She Touched the World: Laura Bridgman, Deaf-Blind Pioneer
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 countryand eventually even to teach. By the age of 12, she...more
Hardcover, 112 pages
Published
February 18th 2008
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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There is a lot to be admired -- Laura Bridgman and her spirit, those who helped her, and the author who chose to tell the story of this extraordinary person's life and who herself suffers from disabling conditions.
But for some reason, after closing the book, I did not feel that this is a subject that made a tremendous impact in history, because, she didn't. There is an anti-climatic feeling toward the end of the book. Although I certainly benefited from learning about the science...more
But for some reason, after closing the book, I did not feel that this is a subject that made a tremendous impact in history, because, she didn't. There is an anti-climatic feeling toward the end of the book. Although I certainly benefited from learning about the science...more
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Born fifty years before Helen Keller, Laura Bridgman lost her sight and hearing from scarlet fever and yet went on to live a remarkable life. The author of She Touched the World, Sally Hobart Alexander, tells Laura's life story with a sensibility born from experience as she, too, is completely blind and partially deaf. Laura's story brought her fame because of all she was able to overcome, and parents held her up as an example to their own children of what can be accomplished with hard work and...more
Laura Bridgman became deaf and blind at a very young age, in an era before educating persons with such disabilities had been developed. Essentially, the story describes her challenges and triumphs from birth to adulthood.
This biography goes beyond describing the details of Laura's life by also revealing her personality. The wonderful anecdotes and details deepen the readers insight, which is further achieved through the inclusion of her flaws as well as her charms.
It is a surprisingly quick and...more
This biography goes beyond describing the details of Laura's life by also revealing her personality. The wonderful anecdotes and details deepen the readers insight, which is further achieved through the inclusion of her flaws as well as her charms.
It is a surprisingly quick and...more
I had never heard of Laura Bridgman, who was deaf and blind (and had damaged senses of taste and smell as well) yet managed to learn to read, write and communicate about fifty years before Helen Keller. Laura was an amazingly smart and talented person who was unique in being able to overcome such difficult challenges at a time when doctors, therapists, teachers, etc. had very few ideas of how to help people like her. This book was very well done, with lots of large photos and drawings to accom...more
Alexander, Sally Hobart and Robert Alexander. 2008. She Touched the World: Laura Bridgman, Deaf-Blind Pioneer.
Introduction:
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 ...more
Introduction:
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 ...more
Heidi
rated it
A good nonfiction and biography for all ages, including its intended children's audience. It isn't overwhelming. The writing wasn't boring. It included some of her weaknesses right along with her positive points. Her story is inspirational, and I learned a whole lot more about her than I did before. It was interesting to think beyond the text and what was going on around her and in her family. For example, what was it like when her family lost their 3rd child during the first couple of years tha...more
You know about Helen Keller, but have you ever heard of Laura Bridgman? Laura Bridgman was born just about 50 years before Helen Keller. When she was a young child, she had scarlet fever, a disease that robbed her of her hearing, sight, and most of her senses of smell and taste. Laura was an intelligent, curious girl and once she was taken to school, she quickly learned to communicate. She became famous for her ability to communicate when most other Deaf-Blind people were locked in their own wor...more
Saw this several places ... most recently Margo Dill's Read These Books and Use Them.
Originally: I got hooked on this biography of Laura Bridgman with Bill's review at Literate Lives.
Originally: I got hooked on this biography of Laura Bridgman with Bill's review at Literate Lives.
This was fascinating. I had never heard of Laura Bridgman until I read Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller, also a great book. I've always been in awe of Helen Keller, but had no idea that if it were not for the success of Laura Bridgman, Annie Sullivan might never have been able to reach Helen.
My only real complaint about this book is the very beginning, when the author mentions how the children of Laura's day would have heard of her, pretended their dolls were her, and poke out their...more
My only real complaint about this book is the very beginning, when the author mentions how the children of Laura's day would have heard of her, pretended their dolls were her, and poke out their...more
Laura Bridgman became deaf and blind at a very young age, in an era before educating persons with such disabilities had been developed. Essentially, the story describes her challenges and triumphs from birth to adulthood.
This biography goes beyond describing the details of Laura's life by also revealing her personality. The wonderful anecdotes and details deepen the readers insight, which is further achieved through the inclusion of her flaws as well as her charms.
It is a surprisingly quick and...more
This biography goes beyond describing the details of Laura's life by also revealing her personality. The wonderful anecdotes and details deepen the readers insight, which is further achieved through the inclusion of her flaws as well as her charms.
It is a surprisingly quick and...more
it was so sad but when u think about it all biographies have sad parts. =)
interesting. not as well known (to me) as Helen Keller, but great story
It was an okay book but not one I would recommend to read.It is just about how she became blind and what she did when she became blind.You can still read it though you might not like it.
I had never heard of Laura Bridgman before. She was a girl who was deaf and blind (and also had lost most of her sense of taste and smell) who preceded Helen Keller and was also very famous in her day. The book had a lot of information about her and was very readable, not boring. Best of all, it also a great afterward that told all about current technologies that assist blind and or deaf people today.
Fascinating story about a brilliant blind and deaf woman. Highly engaging with photos of Laura and reproductions of 19th century primary sources. Interesting piece of trivia: Her doctor/teacher Samuel Gridley Howe, head of the New England Institute for the Blind was the husband of suffragist Julia Ward Howe.
A wonderful book for young people about Laura Bridgman, a deaf-blind woman who lived well before Helen Keller, and in fact taught Helen Keller's teacher, Annie Sullivan. This is a terrific introduction to the challenges she met and her remarkable abilities.
This is one example of how we are taught "selective history"---Laura Bridgman was a successful predecessor of Helen Keller's, yet I had never even heard Laura Bridgman's name. This is a fascinating, short story appropriate for ages 10 and up.
One Sentence Review: I certainly found the subject interesting enough for her own book and the Alexanders have a keen ear for making non-fiction for kids mighty interesting.
Fascinating! When I was a child I loved the book _Child of the Silent Night_ about Laura Bridgman, and it was fun to revisit such an interesting time in history.
Excellent children's nonfiction about a woman that most of us know nothing about today.
Great biography - written by a woman who is legally blind.
Biogrpahy of deaf-blind Laura Bridgman.
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