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Chasing Redbird

by Sharon Creech

Interest age: 11 to 15
Reading age: 11+

Published by Macmillan Children's Books, 2001

  • Adventure
  • Classics
  • Coming-of-age

About this book

13-year-old Zinny is the odd one out in the large, noisy Taylor family - and after the death of her beloved Aunt Jessie ('Redbird'), she becomes completely withdrawn, until the discovery of an ancient pioneer trail on the family farm presents her with an irresistible challenge and a chance to channel her grief into positive action.

Beautifully evoking the wilderness of the Kentucky countryside, this is a rich, multi-layered novel that explores issues of bereavement, guilt, first love and family secrets, against a backdrop of chaotic family life.

Funny, moving and thought-provoking, Chasing Redbird is also an enjoyable adventure story. It was shortlisted for the 1996 Whitbread Children's Book of the Year.

About the author

Sharon was born in South Euclid, Ohio a suburb of Cleveland, and grew up there with her noisy and rowdy family: her parents (Ann and Arvel), her sister (Sandy), and her three brothers (Dennis, Doug and Tom).  In the summer, they usually took a trip, they all piled in a car and headed out to Wisconsin or Michigan or once to Idaho.  Her trip to Idaho was the inspiration for her book Walk Two Moons. 

It was in college, where she took literature and writing courses, that she became intrigued with story telling. Sharon received her BA at Ohio's Miram College and her Master of Arts from the University of Virginia. Her previous jobs include teacher, editorial assistant, indexer and a researcher. Sharon started writing novels for adults and published two books while she lived in England having moved there in 1979. She then wrote Absolutely Normal Chaos and since then has mainly written about young people.

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