Kimmel, Haven 1965–

PERSONAL:

Born 1965, in Mooreland, IN; married and divorced three times; children: (first marriage) Katie; (third marriage) Obidiah. Education: Ball State University, B.A.; attended North Carolina State University and Earlham School of Religion.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Durham, NC.

CAREER:

Writer.

WRITINGS:

A Girl Named Zippy: Growing up Small in Mooreland, Indiana (memoir), Doubleday (New York, NY), 2001.

The Solace of Leaving Early (novel), Doubleday (New York, NY), 2002.

Orville: A Dog Story (juvenile), illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker, Clarion Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Something Rising (Light and Swift) (novel), Free Press (New York, NY), 2004.

She Got up off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana (sequel to A Girl Named Zippy: Growing up Small in Mooreland, Indiana), Free Press (New York, NY), 2006.

The Used World: A Novel, Free Press (New York, NY), 2007.

Iodine: A Novel, Free Press (New York, NY), 2008.

Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House (juvenile), illustrated by Peter Brown, Atheneum Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2008.

SIDELIGHTS:

Haven Kimmel made news on the literary scene in 2001 with her first book, a best-selling memoir titled A Girl Named Zippy: Growing up Small in Mooreland, Indiana. According to Karen Valby in Entertainment Weekly, Kimmel "started tapping out stories on a hand-me-down Royal typewriter when she was nine and soon after announced to the unimpressed neighbors her intention of becoming a poet." Years later, as recounted in her memoir and quoted by Entertainment Weekly contributor Lisa Levy, Kimmel recalled that she still received little support when she told her older sister that she was going to write about her hometown. Her sister replied, "I know who might read such a book. A person lying in a hospital bed with no television and no roommate … and then here comes a candy striper with a squeaky library cart and on that cart there is only one book—or maybe two books: yours, and Cooking with Pork."

Kimmel proved her sister wrong. Writing about growing up in her hometown, she provides a loving and comical view of the small town where almost everyone knows everyone else and an observant little girl learns about almost every aspect of a town's life. Writing in Library Journal, Pam Kingsbury commented, "Her story is filled with good humor, fine storytelling, and acute observations of small town life." Mary Carroll noted in Booklist that "Kimmel's childhood memoir rings true." Carroll also commented that the book is "a simple, poignant memoir, [which] reads like fine historical fiction." A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that "Kimmel's smooth, impeccably humorous prose evokes her childhood as vividly as any novel."

Kimmel turned to fiction for her next book, The Solace of Leaving Early, but once again focuses on small-town life in the story of Langston Braverman and her return to Haddington, Indiana. Langston has left behind her career in academia and soon becomes involved in the lives of Immaculata and Epiphany, two little girls who have witnessed a murder. Langston also develops a romance with a local minister, Amos Townsend, whose philosophical musings are out of step with his congregation but who is also interested in helping the two scarred girls. A Kirkus Reviews contributor called Kimmel's debut novel "overwrought." However, other reviewers praised the book, including Colleen Lougen, who noted in Library Journal that the author "draws remarkable characters out of ordinary, small-town America." Lougen also called the dialog "clever and sleek." A Publishers Weekly contributor found that the novel was "hindered somewhat by the sluggish pace in the early going" but went on to note that Kimmel "proves a wise, compassionate and often very witty storyteller."

In Orville: A Dog Story, Kimmel writes for a younger audience in the picture-book story about a large, ugly stray dog who is taken in by a farmer and his wife but ends up chained to the barn. Orville barks incessantly to show his dismay and finally finds solace when a little girl moves into the house across the road. Orville falls in love with the new neighbor and begins breaking his chain so he can cross the road to visit with her. A Kirkus Reviews contributor noted that "the enigmatic conclusion hints that each character has broken free of some sort of chain to connect with others." Deborah Stevenson praised the book in Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, noting that Kimmel's "taste for well-grounded detail and compact description combines with a gentleness about people (and dogs) and their inner lives, making this a poetic but solidly vivid tale."

For her second adult novel, Something Rising (Light and Swift), Kimmel spent many afternoons in a local pool hall conducting research for her story about Cassie Claiborne. A troubled teenager from a dysfunctional family, Cassie finds solace in a pool hall, where she can focus on developing her skills and earn extra money to help support her mother and sisters, who were abandoned by Cassie's father. The novel builds toward a climactic competition of nine-ball between Cassie and her father, a pool shark who first taught Cassie how to play. New York Times Book Review contributor Mark Kamine commented, "The father- daughter competition is effective and unusual, but is insufficient to redeem this meandering novel." Kristine Huntley, writing in Booklist, praised the novel, calling it "a beautiful coming-of-age story." Malcom Jones commented in Newsweek that there "are things to quibble with in this novel" but went on to add that "the good things so outweigh the bad that you feel guilty about complaining."

She Got up off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana is a sequel to Kimmel's A Girl Named Zippy. The title is a reference to Zippy Jarvis's mother, Delonda, who spends most of her time on the couch eating junk food and reading books brought by the bookmobile. She has no money and no wardrobe, but she becomes determined to change her life and applies to Ball State University. She takes an entrance exam, and because of the considerable number of books she has read, she enters with forty credits. Unsupported by her self-centered husband but helped by her friends the church ladies, she obtains and learns to drive a car, begins college, and earns a perfect 4.0. By this time, she has lost one hundred pounds. She is now capable of supporting her family as a teacher as she and her husband come closer to divorce. More is learned about tomboy Zippy, her sister Melinda, who marries and has children, and her brother Dan, who marries and moves away, severing his ties to his family.

A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that "Kimmel's Twainish tone deepens into a more modern type of despair as the problems of her parents' marriage become pronounced." The book is a tribute to Kimmel's mother and her determination. Christian Science Monitor reviewer Yvonne Zipp noted that "by the end a reader will be in no doubt about the Kilimanjaro of obstacles her mother scaled on her way off that couch."

The Used World: A Novel, like Kimmel's first two novels, is set in rural Indiana, and is the story of three women. The title of the book refers to a second-hand store owned by Hazel Hunnicut, who is in her sixties. Hazel employs Claudia, who is in her forties and who is a mannish woman, six feet, five inches tall. Hazel also employs Rebekah, who is in her twenties, was raised by religious zealots, and now is pregnant. These two women, alienated by their circumstances, become a family to a motherless baby, as Hazel looks out for all of them. Allison Block wrote in Booklist that "Kimmel covers an encyclopedic range of emotions in this tale of love, loss, and the irrevocable acts that define us."

Iodine: A Novel is the story of Trace Pennington, a poor runaway living in an Indiana farmhouse as she finishes college. Her past becomes apparent through journal entries and dreams, through which episodes of abuse and mental illness are revealed. A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented that Kimmel provides a "picture of a troubled woman whose identity, past and present are repeatedly called into question."

Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House is a story for young readers about a third-grader who can't sit still. Kaline's father has left the family, and his scatterbrained mother is of little help when he asks why. He is bullied in school and his world is falling apart. Kaline creates an imaginary world in which he lives in a tree house with two wonderful older brothers and one hundred puppies. The imaginary brothers tell Kaline to seek help from his real, but eccentric, neighbor Mr. Pumaminski, who does comes to Kaline's aid when he most needs it.

Writing of Kaline, School Library Journal reviewer Kelly Roth wrote: "Readers will enjoy stepping into his imaginary world, empathize with his troubles, and cheer him on throughout the story."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Kimmel, Haven, A Girl Named Zippy: Growing up Small in Mooreland, Indiana, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2001.

Kimmel, Haven, She Got up off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana, Free Press (New York, NY), 2006.

PERIODICALS

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 11, 2002, David Kirby, review of The Solace of Leaving Early, p. F4.

Booklist, March 15, 2001, Mary Carroll, review of A Girl Named Zippy: Growing up Small in Mooreland, Indiana, p. 1351; Kristine Huntley, review of The Solace of Leaving Early, p. 1684; September 15, 2003, Hazel Rochman, review of Orville: A Dog Story, p. 246; October 15, 2003, Kristine Huntley, review of Something Rising (Light and Swift), p. 357; July 1, 2007, Allison Block, review of The Used World: A Novel, p. 31; December 15, 2007, Suzanne Harold, review of Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House, p. 47.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November, 2003, Deborah Stevenson, review of Orville, p. 111.

Christian Century, May 16, 2006, Todd Shy, review of She Got up off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana, p. 36.

Christian Science Monitor, January 6, 2006, Yvonne Zipp, review of She Got up off the Couch, p. 12.

Entertainment Weekly, March 23, 2001, Lisa Levy, review of A Girl Named Zippy, p. 107; January 23, 2004, Allyssa Lee, review of Something Rising (Light and Swift), p. 103; February 27, 2004, Karen Valby, "Just a Small Town Girl," p. 67; January 13, 2006, Jennifer Armstrong, review of She Got Up off the Couch, p. 83; February 29, 2008, Tina Jordan, review of Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House, p. 69.

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2002, review of The Solace of Leaving Early, p. 612; September 1, 2003, review of Orville, p. 1126; October 15, 2003, review of Something Rising (Light and Swift), p. 1244; December 15, 2005, review of She Got up off the Couch, p. 1312; July 15, 2007, review of The Used World; January 15, 2008, review of Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House.

Kliatt, November, 2003, Susan Allison, review of The Solace of Leaving Early, p. 16.

Library Journal, February 1, 2001, Pam Kingsbury, review of A Girl Named Zippy, p. 103; June 1, 2002, Colleen Lougen, review of The Solace of Leaving Early, p. 196; September 15, 2003, Judith Kicinski, review of Something Rising (Light and Swift), p. 92; January 1, 2006, Pam Kingsbury, review of She Got up off the Couch, p. 118.

Miami Herald, September 19, 2007, Connie Ogle, review of The Used World.

Newsweek, January 26, 2004, Malcom Jones, review of Something Rising (Light and Swift), p. 59.

New York Times Book Review, February 22, 2004, Mark Kamine, review of Something Rising (Light and Swift), p. 16.

Publishers Weekly, January 15, 2001, review of A Girl Named Zippy, p. 60; May 27, 2002, review of The Solace of Leaving Early, p. 37; September 8, 2003, review of Orville, p. 76; December 8, 2003, review of Something Rising (Light and Swift), p. 46; October 10, 2005, review of She Got up off the Couch, p. 45; June 11, 2007, review of The Used World, p. 34; December 24, 2007, review of Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House, p. 56; May 19, 2008, review of Iodine: A Novel, p. 30.

School Library Journal, November, 2003, Wendy Woodfill, review of Orville, p. 102; March, 2008, Kelly Roth, review of Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House, p. 168.

ONLINE

BookLoons,http://www.bookloons.com/ (June 19, 2008), Hilary Daninhirsch, review of She Got up off the Couch.

Bookreporter.com,http://www.bookreporter.com/ (June 19, 2008), Carole Turner, review of She Got up off the Couch, Jana Siciliano, review of The Used World.

Haven Kimmel Home Page,http://www.havenkimmel.com (June 19, 2008).