to kill a mockingbird // book review

To Kill a Mocking Bird
by Harper Lee

Scout Finch is an outspoken and literate six-year-old tomboy when she begins her tale of growing up in a small Alabama town with her brother Jem and her attorney father Atticus. The children's intense curiosity about a reclusive neighbor is eclipsed by Atticus' attempt to defend a black man against charges of raping a white woman.

This book had been on my reading list for quite a while, and I finally bought it one day a few months ago, fully intending to read it as soon as I finished the stack of library books and various other books I had borrowed/bought. But I never sat down to actually read it (other than to admire it's lovely and amazing cover,), as usually happens when you put something off to do something else first and I didn't read it until two weeks ago. (updated to add, I wrote this review about a month ago, and because I had several other reviews waiting to be published, it's been sitting in my drafts. :) I fell in love with it immediately.  The story is from an interesting perspective, a small child, filled with so much realness and emotion. This was another book that made me cry. :) It was wonderful, despite how sad and heartbreaking the story was. To Kill a Mockingbird is a book older teens should definitely add to their reading lists. Scout, Jem and Dill are lovable, interesting children, and the story that unfolds around them is a masterpiece.

My rating: * * * * * * * * {seven out of ten} (After much though, I determined that this book deserved a nine or ten for plotting, how well it was written, character development and all that lovely stuff, but unfortunately contained several swear words, thus I rated it lower. )