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Audio Clips

"The Frost King" Fiasco
When she was 11, Helen wrote a story she thought was her own, and "The Frost King" was published by the director of the Perkins Institute.  She had not recalled someone had once read "The Frost Fairies" (by Margaret T. Canby) to her.  Eight people interrogated Helen, about her plagiarized ...
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A Cape Cod Vacation
Chapter 10 - After her visit to Boston, Helen and her teacher went on holiday to Cape Cod.  For the first time in her life, she felt what it was like to be in the ocean.  When a wave pulled her under the water, she was very frightened.  Also puzzled, she asked Anne Sullivan:  "Wh...
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A Student at Perkins Institution for the Blind
Helen visited the Perkins Institute for the Blind in May of 1888.  For the first time in her life, she met other children who used the manual alphabet.  It was, she said, like coming home to her own country.  She visited places around Boston, and especially loved the Pilgrims' Plymout...
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A Trip to Meet Alexander Graham Bell
During the summer of 1886, Helen and her parents visited a famous Baltimore physician.  She enjoyed the trip and behaved herself throughout.  The family also met Alexander Graham Bell who recommended that the Kellers hire a teacher to help their deaf-blind daughter. Read along as you hear...
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C.S. Lewis - From a Radio Broadcast
During World War II, C.S. Lewis gave many "radio talks" on the BBC.  His was the second-most-popular voice during the war, after Churchill's. This is a clip from one of the surviving tapes.
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Helen Keller - At School with Seeing and Hearing Girls
Still preparing for college, Helen attended the Cambridge School for Young Ladies.  It was the first time she was at a school with seeing and hearing girls.  Annie continued to interpret for Helen, but she needed periodic breaks.  And while Helen's patrons in London and Philadelphia o...
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Helen Keller - College Prep at Age 13
Until Helen was 13, Annie Sullivan worked with her student on the basics:  How to finger-spell, how to read (in Braille and raised type) and how to speak (as best she could).  Then it was time for formal lessons, to prepare for college.  Latin and math were added to the subjects Helen...
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Helen Keller - Illness in Infancy
Although her father had been married before, and Helen had two step-brothers, she was the first girl in the family and her mother's first child.  Nineteen months after her birth, Helen's parents were horrified when they realized their baby could no longer see or hear, following a still-unknown ...
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Helen Keller - Life in a Cold Climate
As a child of the South, Helen had not experienced snow before the winter of 1889.  While in the North, she played outside in the cold weather.  Her favorite winter sport was tobagonning - which she was able to do with help. Read along as you hear the story:Chapter 12After my first visit ...
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Helen Keller - Radcliffe Student
In the fall of 1900, Helen Keller became the first blind-deaf college student.  She'd romantically thought it would be a time to reflect, and think, about her subjects.  But her college life was vastly different from that of her fellow students.  She had to use her hands "to listen," ...
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