The English I class has begun reading To Kill a Mockingbird. This just so happens to be one of my very favorite books of all time. It is a story about a young girl growing up in southern Alabama at a time before civil rights issues are given any real value. Scout is about six years old in the beginning of the book. She describes the days as long and hot and the time spent playing with her brother and their friend, Dill, as adventuresome and risky. Their childish adventures are shadowed by the deep southern race lines that put a pitiful young black man in a civil fight for his life.

Harper Lee wrote this book in the late 50's and attributed much of her inspiration to her own hometown and her father, a lawyer who seems remarkably similar to the father in the novel.

We will be reading this novel for the next four weeks and discussing the issues, themes, and lessons of the story. Along with this, we will create The Maycomb Tribune, a fictional newspaper based on the many small town occurrences in the novel. We will write one essay addressing our own definitions of courage and culminate our learning with a comprehensive exam. This is a great story and I encourage all the students and any interested individual to read ahead and really get into the story.