From: Dean Schneider <schneiderd>
Date: Tue, 19 May 2009 22:18:35 -0500

What I especially appreciate about Kerry Madden's biography, beyond the solid research, is the engaging tone of the book. I really felt I was coming to know Harper Lee--a remarkable achievement on Madden's part, given that she never got to interview her, her sense of Harper Lee created from in-depth interviews, research, and visits to the Monroeville to get a real sense of the place. Being an English teacher, I enjoyed the portrait of Gladys Watson Burkett, Lee's high school English teacher, who exhorted her students to write with "clarity, coherence, and cadence." It inspires me to be as tough with my students! I like that this biography includes two of Harper Lee's college writings and, my favorite quote in the book, an excerpt from Lee's letter to O magazine in 2006: "In the letter, she wrote of the comfort of curling up in bed with a book as a child. 'Now, 75 years later in an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, iPods, and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books.'" [182
]

And, of course, for anyone who teaches To Kill a Mockingbird, as I do with my 8th graders, this biography gives lots of information on the inspiration for events, characters and scenes, and some insights into the movie. Madden does a masterful job of showing how details of Lee's life connect to the novel. It's also a biography that's a fine book in its own right, not just an adjunct to To Kill a Mockingbird. It's the story of a person with the courage and stubbornness to go her own way, to become what she wanted to be.

Next year, I'll be teaching the novel AND reading the biography with my classes.

Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, Tennessee
Received on Tue 19 May 2009 10:18:35 PM CDT