Harper Lee: Up Close

Review
The new biography of Harper Lee, Up Close: Harper Lee (Viking, 2009) is an illuminating look at the life of the author of To Kill a Mockingbird. From her childhood growing up in Monroeville, Alabama, in the 1940s and 1950s, to her life as an aspiring writer in New York City in the late 1950s and 1960s, to her desire for privacy in the wake of Mockingbird’s publication that she has maintained to this day, Lee’s life, and the spheres in which she has lived it, make fascinating reading in Madden’s book. Author Kerry Madden will join us the second half of May to talk about her biography of Harper Lee, and the incredible primary research journey that she undertook in order to write it. We invite you to share other examples of books for children and teens that draw on primary research as part of our discussion.

—CCBC Listserv