To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee made a rare public appearance in 2007, hanging on George W. Bush's arm as he awarded her a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Other than that, though, the famously shy novelist continues to avoid the spotlight. In his 2006 biography, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, Charles J. Shield details the Alabama's writer struggle toward her unlikely classic — and only — major work to date. Shield recently completed a complementary volume designed for young readers called I Am Scout: A Biography of Harper Lee.