Paul Acampora
I KILL THE MOCKINGBIRD
(available now!)
I Kill the Mockingbird is "ONE OF THE BEST NEW MIDDLE-GRADE TITLES" and
"A CAN’T-MISS MIDDLE GRADE WINNER"
"Adorable, funny, satisfying and smart!"
-- Leila Roy (Bookshelves of Doom/Kirkus Blogs)
“I can pretty much guarantee that even if you’ve read every other Harper Lee-related middle grade children’s book out there, you ain’t never seen nothing like what Acampora has in store for you here.” – A Fuse #8 Production
"I Kill the Mockingbird reads as though written by someone skilled at crafting coming-of-age characters with Scout-like gumption." -- Gordon West (Kirkus Reviews)
"Acampora’s novel is for lovers of literature, especially how the classics work in the current moment."
– Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) Magazine
"The banter among the three whip-smart friends would make John Green proud..."
–The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
“…spot-on dialogue combines with the irresistible appeal of young teenagers enthusiastically pursuing bad ideas for a fast, page-flipping read.” – Kirkus Reviews
"Acampora’s well-written, resolutely cheerful offering celebrates books, reading, and life, and that is surely enough to satisfy the most jaded reader." — Michael Cart (Booklist)
“Funny, poignant, and quirky, I Kill the Mockingbird will appeal to today’s middle schoolers who are tech-savvy, literate, and idealistic” – School Library Journal
"This strong novel... will resonate with fans of the original Mockingbird
and maybe inspire a few to check it out." – Publishers Weekly
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Featured Reviews:
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
In an effort to get people to read To Kill a Mockingbird, their late teacher’s favorite book, rising high school freshman Lucy and her friends Elena and Michael come up with a brilliant plan. They’ll travel to every bookstore and library in a fifty-mile radius of their small Connecticut town and pull copies of the book, hiding them elsewhere in the store and thereby increasing demand of the book by limiting its supply—without technically committing any crimes. Naming their conspiracy “I Kill The Mockingbird,” the trio sets up a website and social media campaign, and soon the plan goes viral with nerd-king Wil Wheaton tweeting about it and pranksters across the nation joining in. The plot is breezily amiable, and it provides a lighthearted focal point for an otherwise emotionally challenging summer for young Lucy. Besides having the normal anxieties about entering high school, she is also confused by her new romantic feelings for her childhood friend Michael, and she’s still reeling from her mother’s successful bout with a near-fatal cancer. The banter among the three whip-smart friends would make John Green proud, and they manage to come off as intelligent but not precocious, witty without being unrealistic. Lucy is very much a young fourteen in some ways (a chaste kiss with Michael seems awfully daring in her eyes), but her sharp observations regarding her Catholic faith, her mother’s mortality, and the shifting dynamics of adolescent friendships reveal an age-appropriate wisdom. You won’t have to hide any copies of this to create demand—just read the passage in which the kids dub themselves literary terrorists and you’ll have a hit. KQG
It really begins with the death of everybody’s favorite eighth-grade English teacher, Mr. Nowak. Affectionately dubbed “Fat Bob” because he was as wide as he was tall (and he was very tall), the teacher had assigned only one book as summer reading the previous year, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Now, best friends Lucy, Elena, and Michael vow to find a way to memorialize Fat Bob by insuring that everybody will want to read the modern classic. Their plan: make the book desirable by making it scarce. Their strategy: visit every library and bookstore in the area and hide all copies of the book, then publicize their campaign with posters and a website proclaiming, “I Kill the Mockingbird.” Will the kids succeed? Will Lucy and Michael’s friendship blossom into something more? Will Lucy’s mom, whose cancer is in remission, ever learn to eat healthy? Acampora’s well-written, resolutely cheerful offering celebrates books, reading, and life, and that is surely enough to satisfy the most jaded reader.
— Michael Cart
