"To Kill a Mockingbird"

View books by Mary Hartley.

A thematic guide to Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" - Rated
Here in Duluth everybody in town is supposed to be reading Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," and there are all sorts of literary discussions, dramatic events, and the like going on all month long. In addition to rereading the novel, which is probably my favorite in American Literature, I have been looking over the various study guides available. Barron's "Literature Made Easy" guides are based on "modern scientific knowledge of how the brain works," which means not only using pictures and graphics, but unique "mind maps" that summarize details students need to learn. The idea with these is that you use them to take notes and develop a personal outline of your thoughts about the character and plot of the novel which branch out from a central point. Now, this might look a bit intimidating to me, but the goal is to build simple chains of key associations regarding what is happening in a novel and what it means. Ah, the joys of 21st century education.

This book, written by Mary Hartley, also makes use of icons for key themes from Harper Lee's novel: growing up is a cake, courage is a heart, racial prejudice a face half black and half white, etc. A typewriter is used to highlight commentary about Lee's choice of words and imagery (i.e., style and language). These icons pop up during the commentary section so that students can trace the develop and interaction of the various themes. The guide begins with some background on the author and the time in which "To Kill a Mockingbird" is set, followed by a synopsis, a discussion of the main characters, and an overview of the main themes of the novel.

The commentary section breaks each chapter into sections. For example, Chapter 1 is broken down into The start of it all, Atticus and the Finch family, Dill's arrival, Boo and the Radleys, and "Just go up and touch the house." Each section starts with the first and last sentence that define it, followed by a list of what happens in that part, commentary, and questions marked with stars which young readers are supposed to stop and think about. In comparison to similar study guides, such as Cliffsnotes, this approach has the key values of inviting active participation from the readers and dealing with more discrete units within each chapter. The little pieces add up to some significant whole without the students realizing what is going on.

The back of the book has Topics for Discussion and Brainstorming, suggestions on How to Get an "A" in English Literature (which probably translates to American Lit as well), an Exam Essay, a Model Answer and Essay Plan, Glossary and Index. My feeling is that this book is geared more towards junior high students, which is fine since that was the grade level at which I taught "To Kill a Mockingbird." Teachers can certainly find some useful things to emphasize in class discussions, even if students are not using the guide. Other volumes in the "Literature Made Easy Series" look at "Animal Farm," "Julius Caesar," "Lord of the Flies," "MacBeth," "Of Mice and Men," "Pride and Prejudice," and "Romeo and Juliet."