Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller

Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller

I found the 2013 Hub Reading Challenge a couple of weeks ago and finally took the plunge today! The reading challenge entreats you to read at least 25 of the books on their reading list. I completed my first book today reading Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller by Joseph Lambert. This book tells of the story of Annie Sullivan teaching Helen Keller to communicate through graphic novel form.

The story oscillates between the trials Annie has with Helen and Helen's family and the trials Annie has as a young and partially blind girl growing up. The story does not tell all of Annie and Helen's life, leaving the reader open for more research, which I like. However, I felt the telling of the story was slightly disjointed as it continued to flip back and forth. I liked learning about Annie's life, but I found the way the story was told confusing. 

I also had trouble reading the narration as Annie explains Helen's progress in letter form to her previous teacher. It is in cursive and is written pretty small. It may be my bad eyesight, but I found it hard to read. 

All in all, a decent book. Check it out!

Such a Rush

Such a Rush

Such a Rush tells the story of Leah Jones. a girl who has moved many times as her mom follows this month's latest flavor to new towns. In Heaven Beach, South Carolina, Leah is the adult of the family; negotiating rent with the landlord, making sure bills get paid reasonably on time, and getting a job at the nearby airstrip. At only fourteen, Leah quickly falls in love with the planes, flying, and all that comes with it. Secretly saving every extra penny she can, she begs Mr. Hall, who runs a banner-flying business at the airstrip, to give her a lesson. Forging her mother's signature seems like a small price to pay to touch the sky. Mr. Hall soon offers her cheap flying lessons and Leah is hooked.

Four years later, as a high school senior, Leah is a first-rate young pilot, earning a job offer to fly for Mr. Hall. However, his unexpected death leaves Leah in a bind. The business is left to his two teenage sons: perfect Alec and bad boy Grayson. While Leah has harbored a secret crush on Grayson since she first met him, she is not sure that getting involved with a short-lived business (as she is sure it will be with teenagers running it) is a good plan. However, Grayson soon blackmails her into helping for reasons of his own, entangling Leah in family drama she cannot hope to understand.

Having never been in Leah's situation, I still found her easy to relate to within the prose. I cheered her on as she strove to reach her dream. I cried in frustration with her as she met road block after road block. And I wanted to hit Grayson every time she did when he was too boneheaded to know what was staring him in the face.

That being said, it was not a perfect book. Naive as my notions are, I often felt a little uncomfortable at what were serious adult moments left in the hands of teenagers. I could understand, on the one hand, that all three of them were forced to grow up at young ages and were forced to make adult decisions. I thought, however, that we should strive to keep teenagers teenagers. The relationship between the two protagonists seemed way too intense and physical for my tastes.

Nevertheless, I would recommend this book. The fast pace and snappy dialogue kept me turning the pages.