“Remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

On Our Minds at Scholastic: The Official Blog of Scholastic Inc.

Hi Gillian! Thanks for your comment. Yes, your school can participate! I will email you right now about this.
Megan on T-minus one week until the 2013 Summer Challenge begins!
Hi I'm a reading teacher from Trinidad and Tobago. Can international schools in the Caribbean enter the Soclastic Summer Chalange. Scholastic had delivered books to my school though one of...
Gillian Crane on T-minus one week until the 2013 Summer Challenge begins!
Many thanks for sharing this really interesting idea. We hope that as kids become better readers by reading more, they will discover that reading is its own reward.
Suzanne on Read Every Day (Even in Summertime), Lead a Better Life

It's finally here: the Summer Challenge! Think kids will break the world record for reading again?

“Remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

By Anne on July 11th, 2012

“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy… but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

This summer, I had the amazing experience of reading these words by Harper Lee in To Kill A Mockingbird. It’s hard to believe but I had never picked up the book before and back in March, it was our OOM-created holiday, “The Day You Finally Read That Book, You Know, The One You’ve Always Meant to Read” Day (TDYFRTBYKTOYAMTR for short!), that motivated me to read it. I confess, I didn’t pick it that day, but I did commit to reading it and I’m SO glad I did. Today is the 52nd anniversary of the book’s first publish date and what better time to celebrate one of the greatest American novels?

Whenever anything has a lot of build-up or hype, I always get nervous about experiencing it for myself. I’m sure you’ve had this experience. You’ve been told it is the best [insert anything here] EVER and then it is your turn and eh, it’s fine. You may never know if it is the build up’s fault and there was no way expectations could ever be met, or if it is just your difference in opinion. To Kill A Mockingbird totally lived up to its potential. It took just a few pages for me to get hooked. I was amazed by how easily I could hear Scout’s and Jem’s voices in my head, southern drawl and all — an amazing feat by a writer. The words seemed so natural and read with ease. Then, when you add the emotion and power behind the civil rights movement unfolding before these children – and what perfect eyewitnesses they are to illustrate this difficult topic – it reached mastery.

OK, I’m gushing but it really was that good! And I hope that this post will do one of a few things for you. Remind you of the first time you read the book, inspire you to pick it up for the first time or simply again, or even find another book you’ve been meaning to read. I’m committed to picking the classics back up myself.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. I gobbled up every word and enjoyed every minute of discovering your novel for the first time.