May 30, 2016
The real-life childhood friendship of authors Harper Lee and Truman Capote takes center stage in this middle grade novel, featuring an entertaining performance by actress Taber. As a native of Georgia, Taber comes by the regional accent honestly and does not exaggerate it simply for effect. Her voice conveys the main characters’ excitement as they sleuth around their small Alabama town to solve a mystery. Taber nails the fierce tomboy nature of Nelle (Harper Lee) and offers a breathier, more high-pitched voice for Truman, who sometimes drops his voice to nearly a whisper. And if the adult characters all sound more or less the same, isn’t that how children perceive grown-ups? Middle-grade readers and their parents alike will enjoy this charismatic audio performance. Ages 7–10. A Houghton Mifflin Harcourt hardcover.
December 14, 2015
Tru is a newcomer in Monroeville, Ala., and his city ways and fey affectations don’t help the seven-year-old fit in. Nelle has lived in the small Southern town her whole life, but her tomboy tendencies make her a kind of outsider, too. Neighbors and fast friends, they look for a mystery to solve, and a break-in at the town pharmacy offers them their chance. Nelle and Tru are inspired by Harper Lee and Truman Capote; Neri (Hello, I’m Johnny Cash) evokes their friendship and fortitude with brio, but the constraints of real life and Lee’s prior fictionalization of it in To Kill a Mockingbird seem to limit his freedom to invent. Nelle’s father is wise and heroic, and Nelle and Tru are essentially free of racial prejudice; 50-plus years on, this, along with the portrayal of the Klan as equal parts buffoonish and scary, feels naïve, even considering the age group Neri is targeting. Still, readers already familiar with To Kill a Mockingbird should appreciate this fictional detour into the world of a young Harper Lee. Ages 7–10. Agent: Edward Necarsulmer IV, Dunow, Carlsen & Lerner Literary Agency.