Alabama Spitfire tells the story of Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird. Roughly the first third of the story tells about her childhood. It does a good job of contextualizing the segregated town she lived in and devotes a lot of time to her friendship with–and spirited defense of!–Truman Capote.
The next third of the book describes how she worked to become a writer as an adult. We see her writing and revising, taking jobs that allow her to write, and building friendships (including continuing one with Truman Capote) that nourish and sustain her.
The final third of the book describes her novel’s immediate success and her negative reaction to all the publicity surrounding it.
Hegedus uses strong, fun words and phrases to bring the narrative voice to life:
“From the get-go she was a spitfire.”
“She always took up for the underdog.”
“They were in hog heaven!”
The illustrations are lovely and draw you in. They do a good job of showing the world from a kid’s eye view.
I imagine this book would be especially attractive to older readers who are reading To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time, but the story of friendship and persistence will speak to any young reader.
Alabama Spitfire: The Story of Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird by Bethany Hegedus, illustrated by Erin McGuire. Balzer + Bray: 2018.
Alyson Beecher hosts the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge at kidlitfrenzy.com. Visit there for more great nonfiction picture books!
I enjoyed this book very much, Annette, read it recently and after re-reading To Kill A Mockingbird which did make it even more wonderful. I’m glad to read your review of it too.
Definitely a book that makes sense to pair with readers who have read Lee’s work. My colleague reminded me that young readers who are not familiar with her work but may have aspirations to be a writer will also get a lot out of this type of biography!
That’s a good point! One for aspiring writers. And it may help them see that their adult life may be very different from their current life–something some writers have told me seemed like a roadblock to becoming a writer.