Monday, March 27, 2023

Week 13 – To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Welcome to 2023!  On Mondays this year, let’s discuss and have fun with books. No I’m not writing book reviews. But this website is for writers, and writers like books right? So let’s have FUN with books!

Week 13 – To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The story is told by 6yo Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, and set in the years 1933–1935 during the Great Depression in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama. Scout’s father Atticus, an attorney, is appointed to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, accused of raping a young white woman. The book explores racial and social injustice. It won a Pulitzer prize in 1961, and was made into a movie in 1962 starring Gregory Peck, who won an Oscar for his performance as Atticus.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056592/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

An earlier draft called Go Set a Watchman was published in 2015. It is set 20 years after To Kill a Mockingbird but appears to be an earlier draft of that novel, not a sequel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird

https://www.britannica.com/topic/To-Kill-a-Mockingbird

Significant quote:  "I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird."  The mockingbird is a symbol of goodness and hope, so killing it - destroying innocence - is a sin.

The mockingbird is the state bird of Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas.

The mockingbird can imitate many sounds, including the chirps of 35 different bird species, plus insects, frogs, toads, and several man-made sounds. They are territorial, and their chicks leave the nest just 12 days after hatching.

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/facts/northern-mockingbird

https://www.audubon.org/news/10-fun-facts-about-northern-mockingbird

https://birdfeederhub.com/facts-about-mockingbirds/

Have you seen mockingbirds in your yard? I have. In previous years when I had a dog, they would dive bomb my dog during nesting season if he dared get close to a certain tree! Here's one dive bombing a Cooper's hawk





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