Product Description

"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.... When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out."Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up.Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale; we first meet the Finches the summer before Scout's first year at school. She, her brother, and Dill Harris, a boy who spends the summers with his aunt in Maycomb, while away the hours reenacting scenes from Dracula and plotting ways to get a peek at the town bogeyman, Boo Radley. At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children's consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding. During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well--in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies; in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right; and finally in Scout's hard-won understanding that most people are essentially kind "when you really see them." By turns funny, wise, and heartbreaking, To Kill a Mockingbird is one classic that continues to speak to new generations, and deserves to be reread often. --Alix Wilber

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #541 in Books
• Published on: 1988-10-11
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 288 pages

Amazon.com
"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.... When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out."

Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up.

Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale; we first meet the Finches the summer before Scout's first year at school. She, her brother, and Dill Harris, a boy who spends the summers with his aunt in Maycomb, while away the hours reenacting scenes from Dracula and plotting ways to get a peek at the town bogeyman, Boo Radley. At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children's consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding. During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well--in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies; in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right; and finally in Scout's hard-won understanding that most people are essentially kind "when you really see them." By turns funny, wise, and heartbreaking, To Kill a Mockingbird is one classic that continues to speak to new generations, and deserves to be reread often. --Alix Wilber

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Lee's beloved American classics makes its belated debut on audio (after briefly being available in the 1990s for the blind and libraries through Books on Tape) with the kind of classy packaging that may spoil listeners for all other audiobooks. The two CD slipcases housing the 11 discs not only feature art mirroring Mary Schuck's cover design but also offers helpful track listings for each disk. Many viewers of the 1962 movie adaptation believe that Lee was the film's narrator, but it was actually an unbilled Kim Stanley who read a mere six passages and left an indelible impression. Competing with Stanley's memory, Spacek forges her own path to a victorious reading. Spacek reads with a slight Southern lilt and quiet authority. Told entirely from the perspective of young Scout Finch, there's no need for Spacek to create individual voices for various characters but she still invests them all with emotion. Lee's Pulitzer Prize–winning 1960 novel, which quietly stands as one of the most powerful statements of the Civil Rights movement, has been superbly brought to audio. Available as a Perennial paperback. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Library Journal
Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning first (and last) novel of racial injustice in a small Southern town ranks among just about everyone's favorite books. This 35th-anniversary edition contains a brief new foreword by the elusive Lee. (LJ
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

1960s Standpoint
One of the biggest daily challenges high school students face is the struggle to be accepted. As high school students reading Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird, we are reminded of the progressive thinking of the 1960s. Many of the lessons Atticus teaches Scout represent the values of this era. In the 60s, acceptance and love were upheld and the Civil Rights movement became apparent in everyday lives of Americans.
In TKAM, Atticus addresses these morals, such as when Atticus advises Scout not to call African-Americans the n-word. Atticus explains that just because people are different doesn't mean that they should be shunned and disrespected. This is an ideal of the 60s, as shown by the progress of the Civil Rights Movement.
Another of the 1960s values shown in Atticus' teachings is displayed when he says to Scout, "You just hold your head high and keep those fists down." The anti violence concept that Atticus preaches was prevalent in the 1960s culture. Many people advocated an anti-war stance which called for peace and unity over violence. We find that To Kill a Mockingbird manifests the ideals of the 1960s which are still valuable today.

By Louise G, Greg S, Talia M, Gabe P, and Larisa A

To kill a mockingbird.....
Harper Lee's Pulitzer-prize winning novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, was published in 1960. The novel, set in 1930's Alabama, details the life of a young girl, Scout, and her older brother, Jem, as they encounter the prejudices of their small town. Their father, Atticus Finch, the town's lawyer, must defend a Negro male in a case that changes the Finch's lives forever. The book details Scout's period of self discovery & her exploration of ethics in a time of racial conflict in America's South. Scout, the narrator of the novel, is six at the beginning, but as she grows, so too does the novel's vocabulary. Words like "stricture" and "slop" turn into "ex cathedro" and "morphodite". The diction evolves in accordance with the development of the character changing to reflect shifting views & perspectives.

Although a great piece of literature, the novel does not contain similes or metaphors. This lack, however, does not detract from the literary experience, but rather adds to the book a refreshing element of honesty & innocence. A relatively new literary work, To Kill A Mockingbird is a masterpiece that will be enjoyed by adults, children and families for years to come.

Reviewed by: K. Klavon, P. Friedman, J. Quinlan, L.K., Mike Dalbello,
Max Holmes

A Teenager's Perspective of To Kill A Mockingbird
Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird is a relief after the numerous tedious pieces of "classic literature" forced upon us by our county's curriculum. This book interlaces themes related to both adulthood and childhood which parallel the stage of our lives which we currently live.

To Kill A Mockingbird centers around the lives of Scout and Jem Finch and their explorations of the facets of maturity. The two spend there summers with Dill, exploring their sleepy southern town and trying to coax Boo Radley out of his house. The siblings grow apart as the each begin their own transition from child to adult. Jem's changes manifest themselves in his habitual "maddening superiority", while Scout learns more about the intricacies of the more adult world. Their new found maturity is tested when Atticus takes on the job of defending Tom Robinson. Then they learn the true meaning of growing lies in making the right decision when faced with the wrong.

This novel resonates with teenage readers in a way uncommon to many of the books imposed upon us in school. Everyone should read this timeless classic because it is more that just a classic. It is a catalog of life lessons imparted to the reader through a collection of memories.