Chasing Redbird [Hardcover]

Sharon Creech (Author), Marc Burckhardt (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

It started out as an ordinary summer. But the minute thirteen-year-old Zinny covered the old, overgrown trail that ran through the woods behind her family's house, she realized that things were about to change.

Right from the start, Zinny knew that uncovering the trail would be more than just a summer project. It was her chance to finally make people notice her, and to have a place she could call her very own. But more than that, Zinny knew that the trail somehow held the key to all kinds of questions. And that- the only way to understand her family, her Aunt Jessie's death, and herself, was to find out where it went.

From the author of the Newbery Medal-winning Walk Two Moons, here is an intricately woven tale of a young girl who sets out in search of her place in the world -- and discovers it in her own backyard.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Always the quiet (and often forgotten) middle child in a bustling family, Zinnia's life begins to change when she stumbles upon a hidden, overgrown pathway that stretches from the edge of her family's farm into the great unknown. Determined to find where the path leads, Zinnia begins the daunting task of uncovering brambles and weeds along every inch of its length. In powerful, honest, down-home prose, Newbery-winner Sharon Creech delivers a dazzling portrait of a girl who's not afraid to journey into her family's mysterious past in order to find her own way into adulthood. Watching Zinnia bloom will warm your heart.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8. Creech returns to Appalachia in this story of 13-year-old Zinny, a middle child struggling to find and accept herself plus look for a way to come to terms with the death of her beloved Aunt Jessie and her feelings of responsibility for that death. The novel revolves around an old overgrown trail that Zinny discovers and proceeds to resurrect. Meanwhile, her admirer, Jake Boone, is persistent about bringing her presents yet fails to convince her he is not really after her sister, May, as so many other boys have been. Uncle Nate seems to be losing touch with reality after his wife's death, and guilt rooted in the past resurfaces to confuse Zinny, who comes to feel that the trail she is uncovering will somehow bring sanity, safety, and a sense of identity to her life. It does, but in ways she could never have predicted. The journey for Zinny and readers is intriguing, delightful, and touching. Reminiscent of many novels about the rural South with wonderfully quirky characters and a focus on the setting of the natural world, this story seems much fresher and tangibly more in the present than most. Not as complex as Creech's Walk Two Moons (HarperCollins, 1994), there is still plenty to discuss such as the symbolism of the redbird in the title and the ethical issues surrounding Jake's gifts and Zinny's mistrust of his affection for her.?Carol A. Edwards, Minneapolis Public Library
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (February 27, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060269871
• ISBN-13: 978-0060269876
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (181 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,162,266 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sharon Creech is the author of the Newbery Medal winner Walk Two Moons and the Newbery Honor Book The Wanderer. Her other work includes the novels Hate That Cat, The Castle Corona, Replay, Heartbeat, Granny Torrelli Makes Soup, Ruby Holler, Love That Dog, Bloomability, Absolutely Normal Chaos, Chasing Redbird, and Pleasing the Ghost, as well as three picture books: A Fine, Fine School; Fishing in the Air; and Who's That Baby? Ms. Creech and her husband live in upstate New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing book by Sharon Creech!, November 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Chasing Redbird (Library Binding)

This book was an awesome book. It was about a girl named Zinnia (Zinny for short). Zinny is kind of lost in her big family with her three sisters, her three brothers, her parents, and her aunt and uncle. When a tragic incident happens with her Aunt Jessie, she is beside herself with grief, and is convinced that what happened was her fault. One day, she is walking behind her house, and sees an overgrown trail, and decides to uncover the whole thing, from her little town all the way to Chocton. It turns out to be a very long way, and constantly along the trail, she finds things that relate to what is happening in her life at the moment. The end is very satisfying, and I am convinced that anyone (girls especially) from the ages of 10 to probably 14 or so will really enjoy this thought-provoking novel.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Family, changes, and life in general to a warm young woman, April 29, 2006

By 

S. Silverman "ReaderGeode" (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chasing Redbird (rpkg) (Paperback)

Set in Kentucky like several of her other books, this is the story of an extended family living in a duplex of sorts on the family land. Zinny Taylor, the thirteen year old daughter of one of the two families is the story's first-person teller. She tells us of her own family and that of her neighboring uncle and aunt. The aunt and uncle lost their only child, a daughter the same age as Zinny, as a toddler. Zinny herself is from a brood of some half dozen siblings but is the one closest to the uncle and aunt. Zinny sets the task for herself of clearing a long-overgrown path that runs from behind her home to a town nearby. She is emotionally working through that beloved aunt's passing away, but also through what may be her first bit of genuine romantic interest from a fellow who has returned to town. In some ways this is the story of Zinny's going through grieving. But it is also a tale of a loving family told in realistic ways through the voice of a realistic main character. Another fine work from a favorite YA author. If you like this one, Walk Two Moons is even better, and just as good are Absolutely Normal Chaos and The Wanderer.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chasing Redbird Book Review, September 15, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Chasing Redbird (rpkg) (Paperback)

This is an adventurous story about a thirteen year old girl named Zinny. Zinny has two brothers and three sisters. Zinny is the outcast child of the family. A lot of the time Zinny stays with her Aunt Jessie and Uncle Nate. She was very close to them. Zinny's aunt Jessie dies and her life is changed a lot. After her aunt Jessie died Jake Bone (an old friend of Zinny's family) comes around and starts to give items to Zinny a lot of different items. Zinny's sister May is very mad because she has a crush on Jake Bone. One day Zinny found out Jake was a thief. He stole cookies from miss flints store (supposedly). Zinny figured that out because she knew Miss Flint would never give out free anything and Jake had said that he got them for free. A couple of weeks after Aunt Jessie's death uncle Nate started acting very weird. He was always chasing something around with a stick and trying to catch it. But no one knew what he was doing. One day he came home and started to wave around a camera and he was screaming "proof, proof, PROOF" the whole family asked him what he was doing and he said "its proof. Of what." The children said of what "MY REDBIRD" he yelled. Before Aunt Jessie's death, Zinny found a trail and after aunt Jessie died she felt like she had to finish it. Because that's what she thought aunt Jessie wanted her to keep uncovering it. She felt that if she didn't finish it she would die. And she was scared that they would put her in the death drawer. Because Aunt Jessie believed that a persons first and last resting place should be in a drawer.