I owe special thanks to my everyday heroes including Michelle Acampora, David Donovan, Scott Hardek, Mark Harris, Joyce Hinnefeld, Greg Lasalle, David Lubar, John and Geri Ann McLaughlin, Kathy Rooney, Ruth Knafo Setton, Melissa Starace, Virginia Wiles, and many others. I don’t know what I would do without you. Also, my wife, Debbie, and my children, Nicholas and Gabrielle, deserve a special note: You keep me sane, laugh at my jokes, help me stay focused, and encourage me to keep going. I love you with all my heart.
During the writing of this book, both of my parents went ahead and survived bouts with cancer so that I’d have even more authentic material to work with. Thanks, Mom and Dad. Next time, please limit your assistance to old photos, family stories, encouraging words, and good meals.
Finally, thank you to Harper Lee for To Kill a Mockingbird. If you haven’t read it, you really should.
Also by Paul Acampora
Rachel Spinelli Punched Me in the Face
Text copyright © 2014 by Paul Acampora
Published by Roaring Brook Press
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The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Acampora, Paul.
I kill the mockingbird / Paul Acampora. — First edition.
pages cm
Summary: “When best friends Lucy, Elena, and Michael receive their summer reading list, they are excited to see To Kill A Mockingbird included. But not everyone in their class shares the same enthusiasm. So they hatch a plot to get the entire town talking about the well-known Harper Lee classic”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-59643-742-5 (hardback) — ISBN 978-1-62672-057-2 (ebook)
1. Lee, Harper. To kill a mockingbird—Juvenile fiction. [1. Lee, Harper. To kill a mockingbird—Fiction. 2. Books and reading—Fiction. 3. Friendship—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.A17298lak 2014
[Fic]—dc23
2013044998
eISBN 9781626720572
First hardcover edition, 2014
eBook edition, May 2014
I Kill the Mockingbird Page 13