To Kill a Mockingbird

by Harper Lee

One of my all time favorite characters comes from TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee. This is one of the books that my mother recommended and I was feeling stubborn so I dragged my feet in reading it. At that point in my life I was more interested in fantasy and science fiction. Part of my hesitation to reading this book is because the cover was so odd. It had a picture of a mockingbird with triangles pointing to various parts. Not exactly enticing. (I normally try and find the coolest looking cover, but I decided to go with the cover I grew up with.)

The story is told from the perspective of Scout, a six-year-old girl who lives with her older brother Jem and their widowed father Atticus. It covers a three year period during the great depression. There are a lot of intricacies to the plot but the main part of the story revolves around a court case of a black man accused of raping a white girl. Atticus is the lawyer assigned to defending the man. Not everyone in the town thinks that Atticus should even consider putting forth his best effort and his children receive some of the town's animosity.

What I love about TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is how amazing Atticus is. There are several opportunities throughout the book where Atticus could have acted differently and he would still have been considered a good man. But instead he put forth his best effort in everything whether it is listening to his children, or defending a man who no one thinks deserves it. This book gave me an appreciation for honorable men. Though I rarely say this, even for those who don't want to read the book you should at least watch the movie just so that you can understand what truly makes a man great. This is one of my all time favorite books.