A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean
Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery,
the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's
enemy - and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises
his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and
is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama
town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence
from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time
companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference - but not
from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose
miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a
tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction
is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro
accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with
avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the
means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case
it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when
he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for
black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries
on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's
quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's
"growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this
southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance
interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild
and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends. (Kirkus Reviews)
One of a series of fiction titles for schools. Scout, the keen-eyed
narrator, and her brother Jem interrupt their games to champion
their lawyer father when, in a hostile, racist town in the American
South, he battles to defend Tom, who is black and accused of
murder.
General
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