Miracle Worker

kby Erin Z. Bass Alabama's biggest literary claim to fame may be To Kill A Mockingbird, but the state has another, lesser known one that made just as big an impact on the world. Tuscumbia, located in the northwest corner of the state, was the home of Helen Keller, the blind and deaf little girl who continues to touch the hearts of young children with her story and biography. I was reminded of this recently while reading Jill McCorkle's book, Ferris Beach, one of the picks in our Summer Reading List. It's about only child Kate Burns who is fascinated with the story of Helen Keller. At age 8, she's checked out the biography so many times at her local library that the librarian tells her she can't check it out again that year, and has also made a game of acting out both the parts of Helen and her teacher Anne Sullivan alone in her room. Kate's mother can hear her up there, bumping into and tripping over things, and doesn't think the game is healthy, but I think that after hearing Helen Keller's story, most children wonder what it would be like to be blind and shut their eyes for