Chasing Redbird (26 page)

“That's what you call it? That's where I'm headed.”

“But nobody lives up there, nobody except the—” I looked at Lizzie. She looked at me. “Nobody except the dim Dimmens clan.”

Lizzie batted at me with her hand. “Shh.”

Finn looked right in my eyes, calm as could be, and said, “That's where I'm staying, up at the dim Dimmenses' place.” With that, he continued on his way with only the slightest limp.

“Look what you've gone and done, Naomi.”

“What? What'd I do?”

“You called them the ‘dim' Dimmenses. That's so rude.”

“That's what everybody calls them. That's what
you
call them.”

“But not to their—their—houseguest.”

“‘Houseguest'? Since when did you start calling company ‘houseguests'?”

“Oh, Naomi. That poor, injured boy. That poor, poor Finn boy.”

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
THE UNFINISHED ANGEL, 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. You can visit her online at www.sharoncreech.com.

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A
LSO BY

SHARON CREECH

Walk Two Moons

Absolutely Normal Chaos

Pleasing the Ghost

Bloomability

The Wanderer

Fishing in the Air

Love That Dog

A Fine, Fine School

Ruby Holler

Granny Torrelli Makes Soup

Heartbeat

Who's That Baby?

Replay

The Castle Corona

Hate That Cat

The Unfinished Angel

Cover art © 2012 by Zdenko Basic

Map illustration by Marc Burckhardt

“Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”

From BUCK PRIVATES

Words and Music by Don Raye and Hughie Prince

© Copyright 1940, 1941 by MCA MUSIC PUBLISHING, a division of MCA INC.

Copyright Renewed

International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved

Chasing Redbird

Copyright © 1997 by Sharon Creech

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

www.harpercollinschildrens.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Creech, Sharon.

Chasing Redbird / by Sharon Creech.

p.       cm.

“Joanna Cotler books.”

Summary: Thirteen-year-old Zinnia Taylor uncovers family secrets and self truths while clearing a mysterious settler trail that begins on her family's farm in Kentucky.

ISBN 978-0-06-440696-3

EPub Edition © APRIL 2012 ISBN 9780061961311

Version 07272012

[1. Aunts—Fiction. 2. Uncles—Fiction. 3. Death—Fiction. 4. Grief—Fiction. 5. Family life—Fiction. 6. Guilt—Fiction.] I. Title.

12 13 14 15 16   LP/BR   39 38 37 36 35 34 33

Revised edition, 2012

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