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Alexander Graham Bell by Victoria Sherrow illustrations by Elaine Verstraete t Carolrhoda Books, Inc./Minneapolis The photograph on page 47 appears with the permission of Archive Photos. Text copyright © 2001 by Victoria Sherrow Illustrations copyright © 2001 by Elaine Verstraete All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Carolrhoda Books, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review. This book is available in two editions: Library binding by Carolrhoda Books, Inc., a division of Lerner Publishing Group Soft cover by First Avenue Editions, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group 241 First Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A. Website address: www.lernerbooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sherrow, Victoria. Alexander Graham Bell / by Victoria Sherrow ; illustrations by Elaine Verstraete. p. cm. — (On my own biography) eISBN 1–57505–301–2 1. Bell, Alexander Graham, 1847–1922—Juvenile literature. 2. Inventors— United States—Biography. [1. Bell, Alexander Graham, 1847–1922. 2. Inventors.] I. Verstraete, Elaine, ill. II. Title. III. Series. TK140.B37 S47 2001 621.385'092—dc21 2001000727 Manufactured in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 – JR – 06 05 04 03 02 01 To my husband, Peter, with much love —V. S. For Francis, whose friendship I value —E. V. Edinburgh, Scotland 1857 Melville and Edward Bell sat on the carpet, waiting. Where was Aleck? Their brother had promised them a surprise. 4 Finally, Aleck burst in with the family dog. He opened the dog’s jaws. Then he pressed the sides of his throat. The dog made noises that sounded like words. Aleck explained. He was teaching the dog to talk! 5 He opened the dog’s mouth again. He pressed his throat in different ways. His brothers tried to help. Aleck patted the dog’s head. The dog’s “words” might not be very clear. But he was making new sounds. And he seemed to enjoy learning. Aleck and his brothers loved new projects. The whole Bell family had a special interest in speech. Aleck’s father and grandfather were famous speech teachers. 7 Aleck’s father found ways to help deaf people learn new things. Deaf people cannot hear spoken words. They cannot learn to speak the same way hearing people do. In those days, many people who were born deaf were not taught to read or write. They were cut off from the speaking world. Aleck’s mother, Eliza Bell, was a talented artist and pianist. Eliza had begun to lose her hearing. But she taught her sons to read and write. She taught them to love art and music. 8 9 Aleck learned to play the piano. He planned to become a musician. Aleck also spent hours outdoors. He loved exploring nature. He loved collecting leaves. Aleck read about the plants he found. Sometimes, he stared at the sky. He wondered how birds could f ly. Aleck was full of questions. School Days 1858 Both Aleck and his grandfather were named Alexander Bell. Aleck’s father was Alexander Melville Bell. When Aleck was 11 years old, he gave himself a middle name. He chose the name of a family friend.