Holiday Reading (Book Review - In Search of Mockingbird)

“In Search of Mockingbird” is written by Loretta Ellsworth. This book is about a girl, Erin, whose mother is dead. She lives with her father and two brothers, all who totally different from her. While they excelled at sports, she was a bookish person, and would always be reading her favourite book, “To Kill a Mockingbird”. It was her mother’s favourite book as well, and it was her only memory of her mother, the only thing she left behind (or at least that was what she thought at the moment). Despite her mother passing away when she was very young (she has little or no memories of her), she still loves her mother. On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, her father announces his engagement to his volleyball coach girlfriend, and she is presented with her mother’s diary, as a way to make up for it, and of course as a birthday gift. Erin found out that her mother was also liked writing and even wrote a letter to Harper Lee. She impulsively boards a bus from her town to Alabama to see Harper Lee, to find out the meaning of life. On her trip she meets Sedushia and Epp, two interesting people that thought her a lot about life and encouraged her dreams to meet Harper Lee. Epp even helps her get away from the police (her dad reported to the police that she was missing) so that she could meet Harper Lee. Erin goes to Harper Lee’s home, but she is not in. She writes a letter and puts it in her mailbox. However, after the whole bus trip, and meeting Sedushia and Epp, she doesn’t feel a need to meet Harper Lee anymore. She goes to a shop with Epp and they sit down to get a drink. Unknowingly, she meets Harper Lee there, but doesn’t know that the person is Harper Lee. They had a brief chat and she leaves. After coming to a realisation that she just met Harper Lee, she doesn’t feel sorry, but she is happy that she had met her.

This novel is about the idea of a teenager who would travel more than a thousand miles to meet someone, and she finds on her trip she meets two amazing people, and found the meaning to life.