Tru & Nelle by G. Neri ~ Middlle Grade Book Review

Book Description:

Long before they became famous writers, Truman Capote (In Cold Blood) and Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird) were childhood friends in Monroeville, Alabama. This fictionalized account of their time together opens at the beginning of the Great Depression, when Tru is seven and Nelle is six. They love playing pirates, but they like playing Sherlock and Watson-style detectives even more. It’s their pursuit of a case of drugstore theft that lands the daring duo in real trouble. Humor and heartache intermingle in this lively look at two budding writers in the 1930s South.

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About the Author:

G. NERI is the Coretta Scott King honor winning author of YUMMY: THE LAST DAYS OF A SOUTHSIDE SHORTY. He is also the recipient of the International Reading Association's Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award for his debut book CHESS RUMBLE. His latest novel GHETTO COWBOY won an ALA Odyssey Honor and the Horace Mann Upstanders Award. His work has been honored by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Museum of Tolerance, Antioch University, the Cybils, and the Eisners. An award-winning filmmaker and new media producer from Los Angeles, he also taught animation and storytelling to inner-city youth. Now living in Tampa, Florida, with his wife and their daughter, Neri writes for teens and children. His first picture book Hello, I'm Johnny Cash is due out in Spring '14.

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Review:

This is a great book that is fiction but based on some true events between authors Tru Capote and Nelle Harper Lee. I love Breakfast at Tiffany's and read Harper Lee's To Kill A Mocking Bird back in school, it is on my to be reread list. I think this is a great book for younger children and anyone who enjoy these two authors. It gives us a fun glimpse into the lives of two very famous authors when they first meet and start writing.

When I received a package of middle grade books to review, my son and I decided who would read which and this one ended up in my pile. He now has it in his to read as he saw how much I was enjoying it.

The two kids meet and they could not be any more different from each other, Tru is very clean and proper, not fitting in with the other boys. Nelle is a tomboy through and through! She reminds me of Annie, tiny but tough. Doesn't mind getting her hands dirty and loves a good adventure. Tru loves to solve mysteries but isn't a fighter, he's a story teller. They both love to read Sherlock Holmes mysteries and have their very own adventures together.

This is a fun novel about a time during the great depression and the kids having fun with their imagination. I love how these two play together and become friends. Tru is left with family while is mother is doing her own thing and his father is trying to come up with a great scheme to make them lots of money. A fictitious memoir.

I give this book a 4.5 stars out of 5. A great read, I am sure my son will enjoy it.