To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) by Harper Lee. Pulitzer Prize-winning classic tells the story of Atticus Finch and his son Jem and daughter Scout, living in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. Atticus is a lawyer, and although the story starts out as a childhood reminiscence of Jem and Scout (told in the first person by Scout), the core of the book involves Atticus defending a black man who has been falsely accused of raping a white girl. Also central to the book is the story of Boo Radley, the Finch's reclusive neighbor whom the children are all irrationally afraid of. This is quite simply one of the best books ever written about America, about race relations, and about justice. It is not to be missed. Grade: A