To Kill a Mockingbird question

Stick with it! It's a fantastic book! Lee was so skilled in the way she presented such deep, hard issues in a sophisticated way while still using a very young girl as her narrator. Fantastic. Definitely read it, even if you don't love it, it will stick with you!

I think you will appreciate the book more when the main conflict of the story (no spoiler here) comes into play and you will come across some very deep issues that are relevant to today as it was to Harper Lee back in the era she lived in as a child.

You need to see the movie. This is one of those rare
examples when a book of inestimable value is duplicated on the screeen. Gregory Peck and Robert De Niro give performances that replicate the passion
and emotive of the novel.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a terrific book and should be read by everyone. The issues are still so relevant. Please stick with it. You'll be glad you did.

Last year, I was the only person in my class who didn't really like this book. Everyone rants about how it's a classic and that Atticus is a hero and blahblahblah.. But I don't know, it just didn't impress me too much.

If I had to name one single book as my favorite this would be it. I first read it in Middle School before it was required reading than re-read it for HS. I remember there were a lot of kids who just didn't like it, some (most) didn't really care either way and those of us who enjoyed it LOVED it. There is actually a lot of background and history behind this book and if it is included with the classroom discussion I think it makes the book that much more important. I first read this book about 26 years ago and although I'm sure there were popular authors and books to compete with this I think competing against book series such as "Twilight" and the "Harry Potter" franchise makes it more difficult to captivate today's High school audience.

The book is still very relevant today and in some ways similar to "A Time to Kill" by John Grisham (still a little bit older but set in a much more modern time but in the same region of the country).

I re-read this book every few years, pass along the copy to someone who hasn't read it and then pick up a new one next time and repeat.

I honestly did not like the book at all. It may have been because it was assigned, but the whole thing felt dry and most of it was unrelated to the heart of the story, which I felt was lost under waves of more detailed but pointless stories about sick dogs or pants.

If you can recognize and appreciate the humor throughout the book, it becomes very enjoyable.

Aeyla wrote: "I have to read this book for school. I just finished Part 1 and am so far not very impressed. I admit that it's not my type of book, but my teacher says by the time I'm done, it will be in my top..."

Keep reading! You'll love it.

As an English teacher, I have read this book several times. It works on so many levels; however, it is not written in the instant gratification style to which most people are now accustomed. It moves slowly to build depth to the characters and to depict the character of the Southern community in which they live. It still rings true today, which is a good indicator of the value of the story. Kids are still kids, prejudice still abounds, and it only takes one good man to make a difference in many lives. If you are still bored reading it, try looking for all of the instances where left represents evil and right represents good. Both Atticus and Tom suffer physical impairments on their left sides, implying that their "good" side is stronger. The rabid dog, the courtroom setting, Mayella's bruises and many more.

I think at some point everyone had to read it for school and I hated it, I don't know if it was because I resented being told what to read or if it just wasn't a book I liked. I don't honestly remember liking almost any of the books I had to read for school but at the same time I love to read. So it could have been either. The only assigned books I ever read in school that I enjoyed were The Crucible, Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story.

I never read this book when I was in school. I read it as an adult and I believe that makes a big difference. The writing is superb, but young people probably don't care about that sort of thing. They are primarily interested in plot and character. Unless they are interested in art, why would they care about how a story is presented?

Another reason I liked the book was because as an adult I look fondly back on childhood. When I was in childhood I couldn't wait to get out of it. Reading something honest about childhood as opposed to something written for kids where the kid is heroic such as a Nancy Drew book, would probably not have interested me when I was a kid.

Just guessing here, but that might be why kids don't necessarily like the classics when they are introduced to them. I read few classics when I was a kid, but I read and understand them as an adult. So I'm not sure it's worth it to force books written for adults onto kids. And by "adults" I don't mean books that have sex and violence in them. As far as I'm concerned those are the things that should go into books for teens. They appreciate it. Leave the finer stuff to the grown ups.

IMHO.

I absoultely loved this book. Yes, I had to read it in school, but I still loved the book. It had so many great themes to it. The beginning starts slow, but the ending is fantastic. You have to read this book!

Keep going! I had read once when I was in high school, just because I wanted to and really couldn't remember much of what happened (no idea why). Now that I've read it again, I realized that I missed out the first time around. Then again, maybe it's not your cup of tea, but you can't deny that the message it sends is important

The movie is amazing!

It becomes the best book ever.

I like the fact that it has underlying messages in the text, such as the backside of prejudices and fear of the unfamiliar - a current theme that's important to understand and worth thinking about event today. The second part is important to understand the maincharacter growing up and facing such feelings that occured when she was younger.

To kill A mocking bird, is in my top 5, obviously, it was in my mums too, yes my name really is Scout.

The book and the movie are on the top of my all time favorite lists. a couple of years ago I picked up a copy of "Mockingbird" a portrait of Harper Lee. Since the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird and the release of the movie she has never given another interview. The author based the book on previously released interviews with her and talked to still living family and friends who got her permission first. She has never published anything since because she feels that she can't write anything that will live up to the success of her first book. I think that is such a sadness as I will read anything by an author that I truly enjoy.

I love this book from beginning to end! I read it in 6th grade by choice(2010) and It was great. It took me a while to get used to the words they used. The southern accents sometimes made it a little difficult but over all I would say the book was very good

It's one of my favorite books and I loved the movie. When I learned that the character Dill was based on the author's childhood friend, Truman Capote ( one of my favorite writers) I just couldn't believe it.
But no one book appeals to everyone. If you don't like it, then you just don't like it.
Personally I have always found it hard to like any book I was told to read. I have gone back to some assigned books later and re-read them. Sometimes I still didn't care for a certain book. Sometimes, you just don't and it doesn't matter that everyone else does.

Aeyla wrote: "I have to read this book for school. I just finished Part 1 and am so far not very impressed. I admit that it's not my type of book, but my teacher says by the time I'm done, it will be in my top..."
I also had to read this book in high school. When I read it I thought it was the stupidist (is that a word?) book I had ever heard of. I did not like it at all.

I reread the book several years later and loved it. The difference for my was how I looked at the story. Rather than just reading it, I started to envision the characters and how life was back then. That made a world or difference for me.

Hang in there, it really is a good story.

Personally, one thing that really turns me off is books/movies about racism that are still told from a white person's point of view- seeing racism from the outside rather than experiencing it personally. I'm a kids/teen librarian and there are lots of books that about racism that are current and relevant for young adults. If you're interested in the topic, some of my favorites are Mexican Whiteboy (told from the point of view of Danny, who has a Mexican dad and a white mom); Black, White and Jewish (the autobiography of Rebecca Walker- daughter of Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple) and the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. All three are told from the point of view of young people who are facing racism in their daily lives. One of these might be a good follow up read when you finish your school assignment.

Nope! Doesn't get any better, in my opinion. Super slow all the way through. =/ One of my least favorite books I've read.

I read it as an adult, & enjoyed it very much. I live in the South, & I never had a problem with the dialect or the accent it was written in. The fact that it was written from a child's POV makes even MORE interesting given that in that time frame, very few things were even considered from the child's way of seeing the world. However, I think that because it is an assigned book, you may already be biased against it. No one likes being told what to do. Give it a chance :)

I chose to read To Kill a Mockingbird from a list of books when I was a junior in high school. It quickly became one of my favorite books ever.

It helps to understand the times the book describes: non-whites were seen as 2nd class citizens; the word of a lying white man was taken over the word of an honorable black man, simply because of his skin color. There's more, but you need to read it and discover how the innocence of a child can change adults.

If you're really having trouble, go ahead and watch the movie before you finish reading. To Kill a Mockingbird is the only movie based on a book I've ever seen that actually does justice to the book. The movie is just as superb as the book.

Now I want to find my copy and read it again!

It is really good. There are dry parts but you've just got to push through and recognize the funny parts Harper Lee puts in there (my english teacher put a very large emphasis on that part of the book... im pretty sure he thinks he's related to her even though her first name is harper and that's his last name.... he's a little crazy)

Im reading it right now for school. And im enjoying it more than I though I ever would.

I personally really liked the book and the story it told. I think to truly apprecate this book you have to look deeper then the words on the page. I know kids in my school really didn't like it when we read it so you might not like it when you finish. I thought it was boring in the beginning, but towards the middle i really liked it.

I think many classics are boring at first and then start to build up very quickly near the end. All the preliminaries will help you understand the ending and get the general sense of the book. You might find it more interesting if you focus on how Scout and Jem see the world and how it relates to how you used to view things when you were younger.

A lot of my peers didn't like the book, but I loved it. It was very entertaining and I loved Boo the best. :P

I had similar thoughts once too, and I was probably around the same age you are now...16 to 18, maybe? Regardless, the characters, story, and theme will never leave you. Trust me.

This is a good book, but not much more than that. Living in the age we do, I can see where this was a very controversy book back in its heyday. But in today's world, it ranks as a good story that's told well. Nothing more, nothing less. Finish reading it, but don't expect a 'bang boom pow' type of plot line.

This book is sooooo slow at the beginning but once you get to the trial it gets pretty good. This book has a good point but some of it is confusing.

It is definitely 'old fashioned' stylistically and very descriptive. But the story itself is pretty powerful - especially considering it is told from a child's POV. Keep reading!

This book is fabulous by itself but it really does come to life if you watch the movie afterwords. Definately worth the slow parts!!

This is a required reading for my school and I just have to tell you... This is definitely on my top 10 books list. The writing is simplistic and undoubtedly easy to read, but there's so much said, not to mention that the characters are creatively shaped and make the book that much better. Keep reading!

Aeyla wrote: "I have to read this book for school. I just finished Part 1 and am so far not very impressed. I admit that it's not my type of book, but my teacher says by the time I'm done, it will be in my top..."

Put simply, yes. This book get's better.

I'm 35. I read it in school too. I don't remember thinking too much of the book at first. But, by the end this becomes a story of courage with elements of danger, hate, bigotry and even some action at the end. It's one of my favorites. I read it again just this year. Stick with it. There's some really powerful stuff that you haven't gotten to yet.

The hard part for you, I'm thinking, is that the real story, the most important parts, hasn't started yet. I agree with your teacher. If you will keep going and finish it, this might be one of the best books you ever read.

I hate to say, IMHO, it really doesn't get any better. I love to read but I just could never really get into this book. I always felt like it was books like this that made my classmates claim to "hate" reading. I couldn't figure out why they didn't assign more interesting books in school.

But everyone's tastes are different. I hope you enjoy it more than I did.

This has been and will always be in my Top 10 best books. I have read thousands of books in my lifetime and nothing I have read before or since has matched the way Harper Lee described the times that she lived through. I recommend sticking with the book until the end and then watch the movie. It is one of the very few movies that follow the book almost exactly.

I hated this book. Maybe I would have liked it a little more if we didn't have to read it in school. I skipped like the last half and read the ending. Or did I? I don't even remember.

I saw a stage production of To Kill a Mockingbird directly after I read the book and that made me appreciate the story even more than I already had. Try reading the book and then watching the movie. It's always intriguing to get different perspectives of the same story.

This honestly is in my TOP top 10. I have several lists.
I'm in High School, and I wasn't assigned it, but its an amazing book. It might help if you watch the movie first. The old one (I'm not sure if there's more than one, but the one in black & white is awesome) You just have to sit down and read it. It doesn't matter if its old, or if you think its kinda sorta lame, if you just read it, you'll love it:):)

I really liked it. I'm 13. It's hard to read on your own though. Reading aloud or having someone to read it to you helps. Reading books for school is a drag. Try not to judge the book because you HAVE to read it though. I hate most of the books I have to read because of judging them too fast. :)