I Am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee

I Am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee
by Charles J. Shields [j Biography Lee]

This is a very readable, well researched biography of the acclaimed author Harper Lee, who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. Author Charles Shields has adapted this book for younger readers from his New York Times best seller, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee. Although Harper Lee is someone who has not given out very many public interviews, the author is still able to provide a biographical picture of a famous person that the general public knows little about. His use of interviews with old classmates, fellow newspaper writers with Harper Lee, and town folk from where she grew up, are presented in a way which allows the reader to identify, in a small way, with Harper Lee's triumphs and fears. There are times throughout the book where Charles Shields takes a childhood experience of Harper Lee's and relates it to the book and the movie of To Kill a Mockingbird. Two components of this book that I enjoyed were Harper Lee's struggles about writing her second novel and her relationship with Truman Capote. Containing 246 pages of information, pictures and an index, this book is worth reading if you like studying the greatness of individual achievement, and learning about the acceptance of letting yourself be who you are. -- recommended by Patty L. - Walt Branch Library


[ downloadable discussion guide for I Am Scout on the official Charles J. Shields web site ]
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