Dear Dr.Bell..Yr Frie

In 1886 Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone and champion of education for deaf people, met an extraordinary six-year-old--a deaf, dumb and blind girl named Helen Keller. Out of that first encounter grew a 36-year friendship and a mutual support system that helped each to pursue the causes of dignity and education for people who are deaf and blind. Quoting generously from Keller's diaries and letters, St. George ( The Brooklyn Bridge ; Mason and Dixon's Line of Fire ) succeeds in conveying the intimacy shared by this pair. Readers will be fascinated at how two great people could also be such simple and loving friends. But St. George also outlines their lives during the course of the friendship, and this biographical information can't help but leave the impression that one short book cannot begin to cover the breadth of two such vibrant personalities. Still, this is a useful supplementary reference for young biography buffs. Ages 8-12. (Oct.)