Read it or Weep

To Kill a Mockingbird September 30, 2009

I’ve read To Kill a Mockingbird at least two times in print and seen the movie several times as well. Last year I listened to the newest audio book version read by Sissy Spacek. She brings a special talent to this book, and the audio book won the 2007 Audie Award for Classics. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize, has been translated into more than forty languages, and has sold more than thirty million copies worldwide. Most recently, librarians across the country gave the book the highest of honors by voting it the best novel of the twentieth century.  It’s one of my favorite books. The book and movie blend together in my mind, and Atticus will always have the face of Gregory Peck. Scout, of course, is the  character I liked best, and she’s one spunky little girl, wearing overalls instead of dresses, and challenging the rules set forth by her aunt and housekeeper. When I was in  high school, the boys in my class were also taken with the novel, and gave the nickname “Boo” to one of the popular boys in the class.

It’s been challenged due to various reasons- use of the “N-word” and other objectionable words such as “damn” and “whore lady.” Most of the challenges are objections to its racial themes and objections by some back readers to the use of racial slurs. Despite the challenges, nearly fifty years after its publication, To Kill a Mockingbird continues to be read in schools and by people of all ages, and is viewed by critics as a novel of initiation and an indictment of racism.

~Ann