2005 book 86

haven kimmel's a girl named zippy
i vaguely remember reading reviews of this when it first came out--whether they were good or bad or mixed, i can't remember. i personally was never tempted to buy it until i saw the british version of the cover on sale at the regulator. i mean, check it out. plus the cover subtitle reads: "growing up sparky in an innocent world." that's just so thought-provoking on several different levels.

anyway, this is kimmel's memoir of her childhood, and since she had a lovably eccentric sort of family, it's a pretty good read. my own favorite moment came when kimmel's older sister told her she was adopted, and when she went to ask her mother about it, her mother claims they bought her from gypsies. hee! my own brother and i used to constantly tell our little sister she was adopted--considering that i was a miniature version of my mom, and my brother looks a lot like my dad, whereas my sister didn't look like any of us (which, actually, isn't true--my sister looks kind of like my brother and a lot like my dad's side of the family, she just had much lighter coloring when she was younger, and the rest of us all have dark hair and eyes), she found this easy enough to believe. of course, when she went crying to my mom, my mom never told her she was a gypsy child, and instead consoled her and said we were just being mean (which we were). kimmel's mother's response is pretty friggin' funny, though.

this whole book is pretty funny, actually. it's sort of small-town idyllic, lots of animals and romping around and things, but certainly the darker elements of childhood (dead pets, scary neighbors, new girls at school, etc) are evident as well. kimmel really is a great writer, so i'm glad i finally picked this up.