Release Date: May 20, 2014
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Rated: MG 12+
Format: eGalley
Source: NetGalley
Buy: Amazon ● The Book Depository
Goodreads ● Website
When Lucy, Elena, and Michael receive their summer reading list, they are excited to see To Kill A Mockingbird included. But not everyone in their class shares the same enthusiasm. So they hatch a plot to get the entire town talking about the well-known Harper Lee classic. They plan controversial ways to get people to read the book, including re-shelving copies of the book in bookstores so that people think they are missing and starting a website committed to “destroying the mockingbird.” Their efforts are successful when all of the hullabaloo starts to direct more people to the book. But soon, their exploits start to spin out of control and they unwittingly start a mini revolution in the name of books.
I Kill the Mockingbird caught my interest with the title. I read To Kill a Mockingbird four or five summers ago, and it’s a fantastic book, one that I desperately want to re-read upon finishing this one. Even though the main characters in this book – Lucy, Elena and Michael – are younger than I am (not too young though), I could still remember what it was like to get summer reading lists from English teachers, and how excited I would be compared to some of my classmates to finally catch up with some amazing books during the holidays.
Normally I would find it a little difficult to read books with younger protagonists without making them seem way younger than they actually are. However, this was totally the exception. I felt that the language used was quite middle school but the characters I pictured were not too far off of my age. I liked Lucy’s story, but I felt that we didn’t get to learn a lot about the characters in depth. That’s sometimes the problem with short books: we get plot but not much character development. As this is aimed for a younger age group, of course this is more appropriate but I felt that if it had been more flushed out, there could be more interesting things to learn about our heroine and her two best friends.
I will admit– out of curiosity I checked out the website (of course it was directed to the authors site) because it would actually be so cool to have this in real life. More appreciation for the classics please! I’m sure now I’m going to be diving into some of the ones I have left unread on my shelf...
I Kill the Mockingbird is the perfect read for a Harper Lee fanatic, lover of classics or a curious middle grade or young adult reader. Cute, warm and heartfelt, Acampora’s novel is one readers of all ages will enjoy from start to finish.
I LOVE the idea of this book, but I would worry about being disappointed by the writing itself. It does sound like it has a lot of heart, which can carry a book pretty far in my eyes.
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Ditto what Warm Vellum said.
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