Did anyone NOT read To Kill a Mockingbird in school at some point? This Pulitzer Prize novel has become an American classic.
My middle grandson, who is not really a lover of reading, struggled to finish Mockingbird for school. I challenged him and promised if he finished the book we could watch the movie together. I was so proud when his response to the movie was that "the book was better." A win for Grandma and Harper Lee!
The story has a slow meandering start as we get to know and understand the Finch family, their neighbours, and friends. The characters are wonderfully written, especially Scout Finch, a young girl living with her family in Maycomb, Alabama with her older brother Jem and father Atticus during the Depression.
Atticus is a lawyer, a quiet man, admired by his community until the day he agreed to defend a young black man accused of raping a white woman. The Finch family struggle with the consequences of this decision. It is almost past the children's understanding. Atticus takes a heroic stand for what he believes is right despite the pressures and threats against him and his family.
I don't even know how many times I've read it in my life but it is a story I cherish. Discover for yourself the meaning of the title.
The only other novel by Harper Lee is Go Set a Watchman (2015). I have it on my Kobo and read it recently. I'll review it one of these days.
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