In Search of Mockingbird - Hardcover

Ellsworth, Loretta

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805072365 ISBN 13: 9780805072365

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), 2007

Synopsis

A runaway seeks Harper Lee for answers

Sometimes the things that need to be discovered aren't so easily found at home. Erin is certain that this is true in her case. A book is all that connects Erin to her mother, who died when she was a baby. But how much can Erin really learn about her mother from a tattered copy of To Kill a Mockingbird? On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, Erin decides it's finally time to find out. And so begins her bus journey from Minnesota to Alabama in search of Harper Lee, the reclusive author of Mockingbird.

In a novel full of quirky characters, strange coincidences, and on-the-road adventures, Loretta Ellsworth deftly traces a unique voyage of self-discovery.

About this title

About the Author

Loretta Ellsworth is the author of the acclaimed middle-grade novel The Shrouding Woman. A former schoolteacher and mother of four grown children, Loretta lives in Lakeville, Minnesota.

Reviews

Grade 7–10—It's 1986 in St. Paul, MN, and Erin is about to turn 16 when her father announces that he's marrying his girlfriend. Her brothers are thrilled, but what the teen really wants is for her dad to talk about her mother, who died when she was a baby, and whose dog-eared copy of To Kill a Mockingbird has inspired the girl to become a writer. When her dad surprises her with her mother's diary, Erin learns that she, too, had wanted to be a writer. Angry that her father kept the diary from her until now and feeling out of place in her evolving family, she makes the sudden decision to take a one-way bus trip to Monroeville, AL, to talk to Harper Lee. This is a slender book, interesting in its journal-styled layout but short on character, background, and plot development. While there are some moments of identifiable teen emotion, Erin and her father are as one-dimensional as the helpful characters the teen meets on her trip. Readers who haven't read Mockingbird will wonder what the fuss is about, and those who have may feel that Ellsworth's book doesn't quite do it justice. Occasional '80s details add some nostalgic flair, but the choice of this period seems wholly unnecessary. Ultimately, this book fails to draw readers into real emotional connection to Erin or her rather superficial journey. The happy ending, in which she has a chance run-in with the author in a diner and makes up with her father, is pleasant enough, but predictable. A thin read that falls short of a promising premise.—Riva Pollard, The Winsor School Library, Boston
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reeling from her dad's announcement that he is engaged, Erin decides to run away from St. Paul, Minnesota. Her plan? To search for Harper Lee, who was her late mother's favorite author. Erin won't be 16 until the next day, so her escape vehicle is a Greyhound bus headed south to Monroeville, Alabama, Harper Lee's hometown. In this light, contemporary quest story, set in 1986, Ellsworth paints a portrait of an unhappy yet talented teenager caught in a male-dominated family. Erin meets a variety of interesting characters along her journey, including large, redheaded, twentysomething Epp Gobarth, who listens and, out of concern, joins her on her mission. Ellsworth's story shows just how easily poor communication with adults can sidetrack and endanger teens, and how clear talk and caring can rescue them. Suggest this as a follow-up to Lee's classic novel. Frances Bradburn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

In Search of Mockingbird

Copyright © 2007 by Loretta Ellsworth

Edition details

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0805072365
• ISBN 13: 9780805072365
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 181