A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana by Haven Kimmel

The above book is actually a memoir. Usually when a book makes my "book list" (the list I keep in my wallet of books that seem interesting) it's because I've read a review that has struck my fancy. This book - published in 2002(?) - was/is #3 on the Today's show Book Club. It sounded so intriguing and hilarious that I had to have it even though I don't usually go for memoirs. I'm glad I did.

Zippy is a memoir about the author, born in 1965. She writes of her childhood (mainly the first 9ish years), the town in which she grew up, the quirky people living there and her mother, father and older brother and sister. In a typical Midwest town of about 300, where everyone knew everyone else, Kimmel has written a series of snippets that made the town unique and the people unusual. The things she writes about are so small and really "small-town" but the way she writes them make them seem like huge milestones or life-changing events. Some examples are the reflections of her many neighbors and friends, the dogs she had growing up, the 2nd bicycle she ever had, built by her father, and the event most memorable: The piano she requested from Santa for Christmas (a holiday that, being rather poor, her family celebrated modestly). I laughed out loud on several occasions. For instance, Kimmel describes what heaven must be like: A place where you have available to you a scratch-and-sniff sort of memory tracker where you can revisit your past through its smells. For instance, her father's truck which smelled of truck, Old Spice and leaded gasoline. She then goes on to say that the smell of leaded gasoline is a smell that if she could, she would inhale until retarded. What special ed teacher wouldn't think that funny? Anyway, I HIGHLY recommend this book. It's an amazingly fast read and there's a follow up book as well (She Got Up Off the Couch). Read Zippy! You'll love it!!!