To Kill a Mockingbird: Welcome

"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel--a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with rich humor and unswerving honesty the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s.

Read Kerry Madden's posts on the Penguin Blog. Nelle Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960 and became an instant bestseller. Two years later it was an Academy Award- winning film. Today, it remains standard--and beloved--reading in English classes. But Lee never wanted "the book" to define who she was, which explains her aversion to any kind of publicity.

In 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird was published to critical acclaim. To commemorate To Kill a Mockingbirds 50th anniversary, Michael J. Meyer has assembled a collection of new essays that celebrate this enduring work of American literature. These essays approach the novel from educational, legal, social, and thematic perspectives. Harper Lees only novel won the Pulitzer Prize and was transformed into a beloved film starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.