"Clara Barton has written this short but very entertaining, narrative of her youth." - The Book News Monthly (1907)

"This work is a valuable source." -American Heroes (2008)

"Indispensable for an understanding of her character." - Notable American Women (1971)

"In response to a request from a young admirer, Barton wrote a book about her early life, 'The Story of My Childhood." - Nursing's Greatest Leaders (2016)

"Barton's autobiographical memoir, The Story of My Childhood (1907), portrayed her actions and achievements in as idealized a manner as possible." - America's Historic Sites (2001)

"At age eighty-six, Clara wrote an autobiographical book, The Story of My Childhood." - Remarkable Women, Remarkable Wisdom (2001)

"Clara Barton has left a fragment of her life story in The Story of My Childhood." - Clara Barton: In the Service of Humanity (1995)

When Clara Barton was ten years old, she assigned herself the task of nursing her brother David back to health after he fell from the roof of a barn and received a severe head injury. She learned how to distribute the prescribed medication to her brother, as well as how to place leeches on his body to bleed him (a standard treatment at this time). She continued to care for David long after doctors had given up. He made a full recovery.

This was but the first of many medical successes of Clarissa Barton (1821–1912), who would later become a pioneering American nurse who founded the American Red Cross. She was a hospital nurse in the American Civil War, a teacher, and patent clerk. She did not attend nursing school, so she provided self-taught nursing care. Barton is noteworthy for doing humanitarian work and civil rights advocacy at a time before women had the right to vote. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1973.

In 1907 Clara Barton, in response to a request from a young admirer, published "The Story of My Childhood," a short 45-page book which includes details of her childhood shyness, her care of her brother David during his illness, her home life, and her initiation into the teaching profession.

Clara Barton's short but very entertaining narrative of her early life is a valuable source detailing her actions and achievements and is indispensable for an understanding of the development of a character that would lead her to become a true American hero.

Other works by Clara Barton include:

• The Red Cross In Peace and War

• Story of the Red Cross Glimpses of Field Work