Does the book go into the theory that it was actually Capote who wrote "To Kill a Mockingbird" and not Harper Lee? Even if he didn't write it, Capote may have given Lee substantial help. I've always wondered if this might be the reason she never published again and is so reclusive.

"She's unlike other girl characters, filmic or literary, of her age: Who even remembers the name of Mary Poppins' wide-eyed female charge or the girls in "The Railway Children""

I'm not sure if "of her age" refers to the character's age (6) or to the period when the book was written. Since the Mary Poppins series and The Railway Children were written well before 1960, I assume you mean chronological age of the character. Books or films with fully-drawn characters under 10 (boys OR girls) are rare, and Mary Poppins and The Railway Children, as fiction written specifically for children, are truly bizarre choices for comparison with a literary novel intended for adults. Furthermore, they don't pretend to be about the inner life of their young female characters.

If you're looking for compelling prepubescent female characters, in books written for either children or adults before the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, I'll give you a few:

Mary Lennox (The Secret Garden); she's 10

Francie Nolan (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn); starts at age 11

Laura Ingalls (Little House series); starts at age 5

Betsy Ray (Betsy-Tacy series); starts at age 5

Caddie Woodlawn (Caddie Woodlawn); I think she's 9 or 10

Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables); starts at age 11

But To Kill a Mockingbird is exceptional in being a portrait of a small child's mind, in the first person, by an adult-voice narrator, in a novel intended for adults, in which the protagonist is still a child at the end of the events related in the book (i.e. the book is NOT about coming of age). The only two other books I know of that fit that category and do it superbly well both have male protagonists. They are A Death in the Family by James Agee, and Hooray for Me by S. J. Wilson. Agee's, which won a Pulitzer Prize, was published posthumously in 1958. Hooray for Me came out in 1964. Both narrators are 5 or 6 years old.

I wonder if anyone can think of any others?

The twelve-year-old girl, Frankie Addams, in Member of the Wedding, by Carson McCullers comes to mind.

Shane, by Jack Schaefer, was originally written for adults, though later the author adapted a version for younger reader (which, to my mind, seems unnecessary).

Ghurka aks:

"Does the book go into the theory that it was actually Capote who wrote "To Kill a Mockingbird" and not Harper Lee? Even if he didn't write it, Capote may have given Lee substantial help. I've always wondered if this might be the reason she never published again and is so reclusive."

The article includes this sentence:

"He answers several questions that have swirled around Lee and Capote (yes, the character Dill was based on Capote; no, Capote did not write part or all of "To Kill a Mockingbird"), and he introduces fresh information that puts a new spin on both authors."

So there you go.

I remember the name of the girl Mary Poppins takes care of: Jane.

And another young narrator to add to the list: Viven Leigh, the ten year old narrator of The Year the Colored Sisters Came Into Town by Jacqueline Guidry. It came out four years ago and it's a lovely novel.

I have mixed feelings about this book: In one way it is facinating to see how Harper Lee wrote To Kill A Mockingbird. On the other hand, do we really need to know she has never had a adult relationship? Is that any of our business? This is not Ann "Those 9/11 broads" Coulter selling her books; nor is this J.D. Salinger luring young girls like Joyce Maynard to his home. She is a woman who wants privacy in her life. Seems simple enough to me.

Maybe Harper Lee said all she wanted to say. And that was enough.

A list before TKAM was published? I'm sorry. Still, When the Colored Sisters is a good read.

Another good young narrator: Sara Crewe, A Little Princess who was ten when the novel starts.

I always thought Capote was the one who had help from Lee, since Capote had Lee as his "assistant" and he quit writing after In cold blood". I only assumed that Lee was the writer behind them both, because of her talent in TKAM. I guess its all your perspective.

"Nelle's maternal grandfather was named Finch"

Was Lee's maternal grandfather's first or last name Finch? It's a small detail, but it would be interesting to know if Atticus and Scout Finch got their last name from her grandfather's first name (which points to his influence on the Atticus character) or from his last name (which was probably her mother's birth surname and thus might have been a way of naming the Scout character after her mother or herself).

It just seems crazy to me that someone could write the great American novel on their first attempt. Either Capote was giving considerable help to Lee, or Lee had been helping Capote all along. The real question is did something screw up the collaboration so that neither of them would publish again after "In Cold Blood".

Harriet, of the Spy, probably my favorite girlhood literary creation. Interesting (or not) that her best friend was a boy named Scout.

This general subject came up in the posts for the Alison Bechdel "Fun Home" article, as well. I've never before heard this point of view in relation to a work of art. In general, our need to know about the private lives of others is what art is. Bechdel's work is autobiographical, in which case it was mind-boggling that anyone would question the value in someone telling their own story; apparently, the author, her publisher and her readers feel there is a "need to know" about Bechdel.

In Lee's case, knowing that she has yet to have an adult relationship (hey, it's never too late) is something I, as someone who is interested in Lee and her work, needs to know. The woman she became over the decades after writing her masterpiece is every bit as informative to the work as the girl and woman she was before and during the time she wrote it.

I understand that Lee prefers to live as a private person, but her decision to become a public figure by publishing her book isn't something she can ever take back. As long as people discuss her book, people will discuss her life, and people will learn from both. While we must respect her wish to be left alone, her life as a permanently public figure due to her being an important American author is open to discussion. We can discuss and learn from her life and work without upsetting the day-to-day privacy she desires now.