K10: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Kidliterati Ten is an interview series with young readers. We ask them about a favorite book and hope that you enjoy their answers.

This week, please welcome Jack!

Tell us a little about yourself: what is your first name, how old are you, and what is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

I'm Jack, I am 16 years old, and my favorite flavor of ice cream is cookies and cream

What book did you read and why did you choose it?

To Kill A Mockingbird, it was assigned as an eighth grade reading project.

Can you describe this book in one word?

Compelling 

What was your favorite part of this story?

Atticus's legendary trial presence

If you had a problem similar to the main character's problem, what would you do?

Since the main conflict in this story is prejudice, I wouldn't hesitate to make a stand against both racism and or prejudice.

What would you say to your best friend to convince them to read this book?

If you enjoy a simply riveting storyline, this is the one for you.

What do you think about the book's cover?

I like the original cover most because it displays the mockingbird (main theme) and Jem's ball of yarn and watch inside of the hole in the tree. Once you read the book you'll understand how the these four symbols/objects tie together.

Would you want to read another book about these characters? Why or why not?

Yes and no. Yes because this was such a hard book to put back on the shelf, yet the epic-ness that was the solution was so powerful that it should simply be untouched as far as a sequel of some type.

Can you name another book that reminds you of this one?

"A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. It has much to do with the prejudice theme similar to that of the theme in To Kill a Mockingbird. 

If you could ask the author one question about this book, what would it be? 

Honestly, if I were to ask Harper Lee one question, it'd be why she never released a second novel after her only book won the Pulitzer Prize?

You're in luck, Jack. As it turns out, Harper Lee did write a sequel (rumor has it, she wrote it before TKAM) set twenty years after the action in her first novel and called Go Set A Watchman, which will finally publish this summer (probably to quite a bit of fanfare)!

The blurb:

The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.

Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbirdtakes readers to the roots of human behavior - to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos.