She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana. Haven Kimmel. Free Press. 2007.

Book review by Joel
This book is the follow up from A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana (Today Show Book Club #3). It is the story of how her mom got up off the couch…the end. Oops. Actually, it is about that and a lot more. Zippy’s dad was a police officer in their small town of Mooreland, Indiana, and had old fashioned ideas of what a woman should do—basically, stay home and raise babies. The reason she was on the couch was due to depression. She was able to get up and get a Master’s in English and become independent. This was a work for her mother, but also about growing up in a small town and doing what kids do in rural towns.

This book has an unusual sense of humor and timing. It is well paced and will catch you laughing off guard (especially on a plane). I don’t want to give any spoilers, but I would highly recommend this book. It reminded me of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, with the little girl and her perspective on her world. But twisted.

Really highly recommend it.

Joel.