Book cover image:
Book Summary: Young
tomboy Scout Finch and her older brother, Jem, spend their summers playing
pranks with their friend, Dill, dreading the educational stability of school,
and spying on their mysterious neighbors in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama
in the 1930s. The children grow up facing the normal tribulations of childhood
in the South as they are raised by their well-respected lawyer father, Atticus
Finch, and their strict but motherly black housekeeper, Calpurnia. Scout and
Jem begin to struggle with the views of their society and their inner morals
when their father is assigned to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, for accused
rape charges against a white teenager. Although the Finch family faces racism
and the ugliness of human nature, they learn that compassion and humility can
be found among the least likely suspects.
APA Reference of Book: Lee, H. (1960). To kill a mockingbird.
Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott.
Impressions: This
book is a classic that I never managed to read (somehow) during my journey from
school to school as a child. While I did enjoy the book overall, I have to say
that the first half of the book definitely dragged on with unnecessary detail.
The everyday conflicts that Scout and Jem faced as young children just were not
enough to keep me thoroughly engaged in reading, so it did take me a while to
push through this novel. However, once Atticus received his case for defending
Tom Robinson against raping a white girl, the story became interesting. I am
very interested in Civil Rights type stories, so I was intrigued at how this
case would be handled against the overwhelming odds of racism. Although I was
disappointed that Tom was found guilty and later was murdered, I also realized
that Lee wrote this story very realistically based on the time period in which
these events took place. The ideas that Atticus instills in his children (and
the ones that they learn through observation and experience) are very powerful
and give me hope for the future. I can imagine the impact that this book had on
people’s views on racism and human nature when the book was released during the
Civil Rights Movement. Scout’s simple innocence in her declaration, “I think
there’s just one kind of folks. Folks,” just shows that humans should start
viewing each other as humans and appreciate their differences.
Professional Review:
To kill a mockingbird [Review]. (1960,
July 1). Bulletin from Virginia Kirkus' Service.
A first novel, this is also a first person account of
Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery,
the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy -- and
the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal
dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the
colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof
to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their
summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference -- but not
from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is
incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of
Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his
defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed
with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means
of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves
Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The
shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that
Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's
quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing
outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture
pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been
selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Library Uses: Students will engage in a Socratic seminar based on
discussion questions derived from the novel. Students will be respectful as
they give their opinions and reasoning for their answers as they add onto
conversation starters from other students.
