Helen Keller was born in the little Alabama town of Tuscumbia on June 27, 1880. She was diagnosed with a disease that left her blind and deaf when she was one year old.

Even with her family, it was difficult for her to communicate in the early years after her illness; she lived in complete darkness, frequently furious and irritated that no one could understand her. When Helen's teacher, Anne Sullivan, moved in with the family in Alabama in March1887, she completely transformed Helen's life.

Miss Sullivan teaches Helen how to name objects by handing them to her and having her spell out the letters in their names. Helen learned to spell these phrases by emulating them without realizing what she was doing, but she finally understood that everything had a name and that Miss Sullivan was teaching her how to spell them.

Helen picked up the language quickly after that; she especially loved studying in nature, where she and her teacher would go on walks and she would ask any questions about her surroundings. Helen learned to read soon after, owing to Miss Sullivan, who taught her by handing her strips of cardboard with heightened letters and had her enact out the phrase using items. Helen was soon able to read entire novels.

Helen traveled to Boston with her mother and Miss Sullivan in May 1888. She studied at the Perkins Institute for the Blind for a while and soon made friends with other blind girls of her age. Helen got her first taste of the ocean while they were on vacation in Brewster, Cape Cod. They spent virtually every winter after that up north.

Helen was determined to learn how to talk once she had learned to read. Her teacher and many others thought she'd never been able to talk normally, but she was determined to get there. Helen started learning with Miss Sarah Fuller at the Horace Mann School in1890, and she learned by touching the position of Miss Fuller's lips and tongue as she talked. Her first words, "It feels warm," were a powerful memory for her: she was overjoyed at the prospect of finally being able to communicate with her family and friends.

During the winter of 1892, Helen had a terrible time. She composed a narrative called "The Frost King," apparently inspired by the gorgeous fall foliage surrounding her, and sent it up to her teacher at the Perkins Institute as a present. Helen's narrative was subsequently discovered to be quite similar to one in a published book called "The Frost Fairies."

Helen had been told the original story as a youngster, and the lines had become so embedded in her memory that she'd unintentionally copied them when she created her own. Helen's connection with Mr. Anagnos, her Perkins Institute teacher, was damaged by this, and she began to doubt her own intellect and the originality of her ideas for a long time.

Helen began studying formal topics including history, Latin, French, German, and arithmetic at the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf in New York City in 1894. She started her education at the Cambridge School for Young Ladies in Massachusetts in1896, to attend Radcliffe University, a women's college connected with Harvard University.

This was her first year at school, and she was excited to be around girls who could see and hear rather than pupils who were deaf or blind. She persevered despite the difficulties; nonetheless, her mother finally removed her from the Cambridge School, preferring to complete her Radcliffe preparation with a professional teacher, because they did not agree with the Cambridge School principal's desire to reduce Helen's course load.

She was accepted to Radcliffe College in 1899 and began classes in the fall of 1900. Even though Helen faced unique challenges at college, she was grateful for the chance.

Helen discusses her love of reading, her favorite activities, and the individuals who impacted her life in the last chapters of her memoir. Helen's personal letters written during her childhood, as well as supplemental comments from her editor and a first-hand description by Helen's teacher, Anne Sullivan, are included in two additional sections of the autobiography.