This was an interesting read, but not my favorite. It could have taken a deeper dive into the issues of the time. The characters weren't terrible. This is a good book if you want a light read.

•Plot: 3/5 (A church softball game forces a Texas town to reckon with a changing world.)

•Characters: 3/5 (Corky is like Diet Scout from “To Kill a Mockingbird”.)

•Writing: 3/5

•Ending: 3/5

My favorite thing about this one was the way it tied the turbulent 60s with the pandemic and the unrest of the summer of 2020. There’s a lot of change happening in this book and it’s sad how people still react to change almost 60 (!) years later. Special thanks to the author and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for a digital advance reader's copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

I loved this! Deserves more than 5 stars! A heartwarming, historical, coming-of-age story that takes place during a time of massive cultural upheaval, this remarkable novel explores the power of friendship, hope, and progress.

The novel begins with this paragraph, “In 1964, a small miracle of a summer happened in Kate “Corky” Corcoran’s tiny, segregated town because of a softball game, a pastor feud, a drugstore sit-in, and a girl named America who Corky saw run as fast as Olympic champion Wilma Rudolph, the fastest woman in the world.”

After reading that sentence, I couldn’t put this book down. It’s well-written, with realistic characters, authentic dialogue, and edge-of-your-seat plotting. The book smoothly shifts from various characters’ points of view, including a dog, as well as an omniscient narrator. The suspenseful foreshadowing kept me turning the pages in anticipation. Talented author Lynda Rutledge (“West With Giraffes”) creatively takes the larger 1964 issues of racism and the Civil Rights Movement, women’s rights, the Cold War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy assassination, Viet Nam war, Martin Luther King Jr., and makes them personal by telling the story from the perspective of naïve 13-year-old Corky.

Rutledge explains how “The moral of this novel, if it has one, is about the absolute miracle of friendship and also about the miraculous ability that books and sports possess to draw those new worlds together.” Of course the book she is referring to is “To Kill A Mockingbird” and the sport is girls’ softball. If you want to read similar heartwarming 5-star coming-of-age novels of small-town drama mixed with poignant humor after finishing this one, I highly recommend “The All-American” by Susie Finkbeiner, “The Incredible Winston Browne” and “Kinfolk,” both by Sean Dietrich.

This would be great for book clubs and is one I’ll be telling everyone to read. Don’t miss this feel-good novel!

This is my first book from this author and I enjoyed it. Corky, the main character, was a loveable spitfire character on the cusp of her teen years in 1964. I loved stepping back in time and getting to know the various small-town characters in High Cotton, but I especially loved the sixteen-year-old character, America.
I would love another book that is America's story! She was my favorite and so many questions about what happened to her in the years following 1964 were left unanswered (as pointed out in the story, that's life... so many unanswered questions.) I'm hoping that maybe those questions were left unanswered because we will eventually get a book about America's story.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this fun, heartwarming, thought-provoking story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the advanced reader copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

As I've always loved the book To Kill A Mockingbird, I truly enjoy any story where the plot involves mention of the Harper Lee classic. Here, Kathryn "Corky" Corcoran is a precocious inquisitive 13 year old in the summer of 1964, when her life is upended by social change in her hometown of High Cotton Texas. She is a somewhat sheltered tomboy, daughter of a prominent business owner in town who befriends the daughter of the family's Haitian American housekeeper. The connection to the Harper Lee classic is tenuous at best...Corky checks it out from the library and shares it with her new friend, America, who endeavors to show Corky her perspective on the book by opening her eyes to her own life experience. What follows is a coming of age story where Corky stops seeing things in life from her narrow point of view. Very solid YA novel! Would recommend.

After having read and LOVED West With Giraffes, I was most excited to be selected to read an arc of Mockingbird Summer. It has taken me a long time to figure out how to review Lynda Rutledge's latest novel centering on the coming of age of a female Caucasian growing up in a segregated Texas small town in the mid 1960's.

I liked the concept of the book, of self-actualization during the era of segregation and Jim Crow in 1964 in Texas. I also always love a novel that drives me to do my own research to learn more about the era, the people, or an event on which the book is based. I found myself researching sports and Jim Crow laws, Wilma Rudolph, even the Bullard Bumblebees.

I think the main trouble I have is with the categorization of the novel itself, having the label of adult fiction, when it truly reads more of YA. The voice Rutledge gave the main character, "Corky" was too youthful for her inquisitive nature, and yet, also came across as too, well, educational or schoolmarm-ish. Corky's words, feelings, and background depictions were too mismatched for the 13 year old I felt she was attempting to portray.

Although I rated Mockingbird Summer a solid 3 out of 5 stars, I look forward to the author's next novel.

3.75⭐️

This is pleasant read as long as you can quickly adjust your expectations. It’s classified as Adult Fiction, but Mockingbird Summer is considerably more childlike and seems tailored to children far more than adults, with elementary introductions to social issues and inequalities mixed throughout the coming-of-age tale.

Thank you Lynda Rutledge, Lake Union Publishing, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

Mockingbird Summer would be a great palate cleanser between heavy emotional books. Even though the time period and subject manner have the capacity to be heart-wrenchingly deep, this one is light enough that it wouldn't traumatize a even middle grade reader.

Normally the books I obtain from NetGalley are for my review job at BookBrowse.com. In this case, I was asked to moderate a book discussion for the site at https://www.bookbrowse.com/booktalk/index.cfm - so it wasn't a book I selected, it was one that I agreed to read for the discussion.

I felt the book was entertaining and that it kept my attention reasonably well, but I thought it was aimed at a younger audience. As someone who grew up during the period the author depicts, there were a few things that bothered me about the novel. First, I felt that there were numerous mistakes made in her description of the era (e.g., Corky's father worked Sundays, but it was illegal for most stores to be open on Sundays in Texas before the 1980s). But, more importantly, I also felt the author made it too easy for the Black character and the white characters who accepted her. During the era, racism was a much more complex issue than the book seems to indicate. Most of the characters were either completely accepting of America or completely racist - no middle ground - and I just don't think that was accurate. So, while I felt it was a pleasant tale, overall I felt it was pretty light-weight.

Set in 1964 this story about the friendship between a white girl, Corky and a black girl, America. It is set in a small town in Texas called High Cotton, where a railroad runs through the middle of town. On one side you have the Northside where white families live and across the tracks you have the black side of town - Southside. The story sets out when 13 year old Corky takes out "To Kill A Mockingbird" from the local library. There are many questions she asks and many events that take place in the book that Corky doesn't understand, but soon enough with the Civil Rights Movement taking place, life as she knows it in small town Texas will change. Tensions run high and are running parallel with the book. Other issues are also taking place, such as women's equal rights; it is time for change and acceptance. This book takes you to small town USA with its prejudices and racial segregation along with the coming of age of a 13 year old girl. This was a wonderful novel, one that I would highly recommend. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My favorite book of more than 60 years of reading is 'To Kill a Mockingbird' so I was very excited to read 'Mockingbird Summer' by Lynda Rutledge. I particularly loved the main character of Corky (a modern day Scout) in all of her wonderful messiness. This isn't a retelling of TKAM, but explores many of the same themes. The book did keep me reading, and I did get emotional at the ending (which was near perfect.) This is one of those books that may have a deeper impact on me the more I think about it. I do believe Corky was right when she said, ".. a novelist's job is to tell what is truth, to create a world in which you'd want to live, in which everything is just, even if only in the end." That is what Harper Lee did so well in 'To Kill a Mockingbird.'

Beautiful coming-of-age novel

Fans of historical fiction will love this book that captures the 60s with racial tensions, segregation, Vietnam War, and women’s rights movement. Mockingbird Summer is so much more than a story of a 13 year old girl, Corky, and her 16 year old friend, America.

Loved the ending showing us despite how far we’ve come we still have a ways to go.

Thank you NetGalley and Lakeside Union Publishing for this advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

This novel is set in a small town of Texas in the summer of 1964. It’s told in the omniscient third person flitting from character to character at times, but the majority of it is about 13 year old Kate “Corky” Corcoran, whose eyes are opened to issues of race when she both reads To Kill a Mockingbird and meets America, a 16 year old black girl new to town who is a fabulous athlete and is reluctantly convinced by the pastor to integrate the town’s girls softball team.

This book is clearly meant to be an homage to To Kill a Mockingbird, which it does in a sweet though lower stakes way. However, the writing style just reads weirdly young as if this was a middle grade novel - not just in a simple way as if this is an homage to TKAM, but with its overexplaining of history and context that would be appropriate in a book aimed at say 10-12 year olds but is almost condescending to an adult audience.

I absolutely adores Rutledge’s West With Giraffes, which was one of my top ten books of 2021. But while that one was written in a way that made it fine for younger readers - I immediately gave it to my 13 year old son, who loved it just as much - it also felt perfect as an adult book. This one, not so much. Though it was a short book, it took me days to read as it just didn’t hold my attention. It was a sweet story though, and had it been marketed as a middle grade book I might have rated it higher. As it was, 3.5 stars for me.

Mockingbird Summer is a coming of age novel set in Texas in the 1960's. I enjoyed West with Giraffes, also written by Lynda Rutledge, but didn't enjoy this one quite as much. It's a good story that tackles elements of friendship and race during a volatile time.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC.

This book brought back memories of my teenage years as I was the same age as America in 1964. But unlike America I was not a black child living near a white neighborhood. I had no idea at the time how hard it was for children like her. I enjoyed the story and the loved how Corky and America’s friendship grew. Although it was not without some tense moments the story was a heartwarming tale of two girls and their struggles as friends navigating the tumultuous times.

This beautiful coming-of-age novel takes place in 1964 Texas amidst racial segregation. I was drawn to the book's title because my favorite novel of all time is "To Kill a Mockingbird". I loved the friendship in the book and watching it progress. This was well-written and the truths in the book can still be applied today as we still have some of these racial tensions prevalent in the US.

I was hoping to love this book. It has all the right elements for one of my favorite kinds of books. It’s set in Texas (lived there for a while), takes place during the summer of 1964 (I was 4), and features the book To Kill a Mockingbird (one of my all-time faves). Plus, Mockingbird Summer was written by the author who gave us West With Giraffes, a delightful read. Unfortunately, I was never swallowed up in swoony love for the characters or the story. I can’t quite figure out why. Maybe it’s the simplicity of the writing or maybe my expectations were too high. I failed to fall in love with any of the characters, either. But I would still recommend you try the book for yourself. Often, I can read a book one month and feel so-so about it when another time I might eat it up. All part of the mystery of what makes a good book. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance reader copy.

I went into this book with high hopes because I really enjoyed Rutledge's previous historical fiction, <i>West with Giraffes</i>. Unfortunately, this one did not have the same impact on me as a reader. It was a good book, but it did not give me anything I did not already know or feel about the time period of the story. Therefore, it is a 3 star read for me. I would recommend it as a good story with likable characters, but I do not foresee it being memorable to me.

This coming of age novel gave a good look inside the turbulent 1960s. I love how the author showed how books, sports, and animals can bring people together even in the midst of hate going on around them.

It's the summer of 1964, and Corky (Kathryn) is thirteen, and terribly naïve to the ways of the world. When she meets America, an athletically talented young black girl that is new to town, she is primed to learn quite a lot about the ways that racism is pervasive in her daily life. Seeing the world anew because of the incredible resistance to America playing on a white church softball team, Corky makes a lot of insensitive missteps along the way. Ultimately, tensions in the town erupt into civil rights protests and violence.

Written from a young point of view, the novel is simply narrated. It also misses the mark on the effects of everyday racism - and ultimately makes a white martyr to the racial violence, instead of focusing on the lives of the black characters. A final epitaph from the main character's point of view sixty years later does little to create a satisfying end.

Fans of West With Giraffes will likely find great joy in this story, though it is unlikely to draw in a new reading audience.