Book cover of A Girl Named Zippy: Growing up Small in Mooreland, Indiana

Book description

When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965 in Mooreland, Indiana, was a sleepy little hamlet of three hundred people. Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was possessed of big eyes and even bigger ears. In this witty and lovingly told memoir, Kimmel…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked A Girl Named Zippy as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

A captivating memoir that I could not put down. The mesmerizing cover! The story of a happy child growing up in a happy family in the Midwest that is somehow riveting! I was hooked from the get-go.

As someone who used to book comics in NYC, I admire anyone who can do brilliant clean humor. I wouldn’t call her a humor writer. She’s just a fantastic writer. I do not re-read books, but I do re-read this gem to feel sane and awed and to laugh. It reminds me of simpler times and that there are good, genuine people in…

This memoir is by a girl who grew up in a small town in Indiana where “people helped their neighbors, went to church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards.” That pretty much describes the town I grew up in—and there aren’t a lot of books about that life!

Zippy’s anecdotes revolve around friendship, sibling rivalry, beloved (and not so) neighbors, cherished pets, and riding bikes. Even though I grew up in central Florida, Kimmel’s midwestern world was a close echo of my own. Reading her accounts of memories similar to mine kept me laughing out loud throughout.

…

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Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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