To Kill a Mockingbird By: Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird wouldn't be the book of my choice for entertainment. I didn't quite understand the meaning of the book until more than half way through. I often found myself re-reading or thinking about what a paragraph was meaning. It definitely was a challenging book for me to read. I enjoyed To Kill a Mockingbird, but a little more once I understood the meaning!

Jean Louise Finch (Scout) lives with her father Atticus, Jem, and their cook, Calpurnia, in a time divided by race. Scout doesn't really take interest in this world issue but she does take interest in Dill, Jem, Atticus, Boo Radley, and school. She also wonders a lot about her town, Maycomb and the people who live there. When Dill comes to visit every summer, Jem, Scout, and Dill try to make the mysterious Boo Radly come out. After trying a few times and litterally getting scared out of their pants, they finally stop and move on to their other interests. You read about Scout's life and all the people in it. In school Scout can't get over kids calling her father a "nigger- lover". Atticus is a lawyer and is defending an African American accused of taking advantage of a women. Will Boo radly come out? Reading the book will tell you this and the interesting case of the innocence or guilt of Tom Robinson.

At first I didn't know what this book was telling me. All it is is about a girl living in the 1960s. No conflict or plot. It wasn't until a certain chapter that I noticed that this book is about acceptance. It's showing that we all need to be accepting and understanding of everyone and anyone. Living in a time divided by race is difficult. Do we want to repeat it? In the book it explains that killing a mockingbird is a sin. All the birds do is sing for us. I thought about this and I think it means to not kill or decide so instantly that anything is so bad just by the way they or it looks or acts. You need to get to know what they're like. What do you think it means?

I really liked the characters in this book, especially Scout and Atticus. Atticus was very smart and humble. He was understanding and thought about things before he actually judged or said anything. Scout was very brave and stood up for what she believed in. In a way I think we are all like Scout. Learning and trying to figure out who we are and what this world means.

I understand why To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic, but I don't get why it took so long for the book to show its point. I'll give it a 4 out of 5 for that reason.