1. To Kill a Mockingbird By Harper Lee

2. About the Author Born in Monroeville, Alabama in 1926 Youngest of 3 children Lee studied law in college, but did not receive a law degree

3. How the book came to be… After moving to NYC, she wrote stories in her spare time An agent encouraged her to expand on one of her short stories After years of editing and revising, To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960

4. Public Acclaim In 1961 her book won the Pulitzer Prize  Paperback of the Year award  Alabama Library Association award  National Conference of Christians and Jews Brotherhood award  85 weeks on the best-seller list 4th most taught book in schools today

5. About the Book The book portrays a microcosm of the 1930s in the south The Great Depression & Race Relations --handouts on jim crow laws/ great depress Written from the point of view of a young girl, the story is actually told by an older woman remembering her childhood

6. Autobiographical? Harper Lee’s life has many similarities to the setting, characters, and themes in To Kill a Mockingbird Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama in 1926 Scout, the story’s narrator is a 6-year-old girl living in small town Maycomb, Alabama Lee would have been about 6-years old when the novel takes place

7. More Parallels Narrator’s father modeled after Lee’s dad Small town setting and characters modeled after people with whom Lee grew up Characters’ speech in book mimics dialect Lee grew up speaking

8. Speculate! Accepting that the story is written from Harper/ narrator’s point of view, and having viewed the images earlier, what do you think are some other themes we might be examining during the course of this novel?

9. Interpret/ Reflect (10mins) From your point of view, interpret and reflect on the following quote: "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it" (36). How might this quote fit in with the themes that were just suggested? Literally? Figuratively?