Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird Read Online Free

and whom we fear out of ignorance rather than any concrete proof that they are threatening or “scary” individuals.
    Hopefully, this volume will serve as encouragement for yet further in-depth study of Lee’s American classic and recognition that it is hardly a child’s novel, a fictional construct intended for preadolescents that features a naïve and immature narrator whose appeal is limited at best. Finely tuned by a woman whose literary talent never again reached the printed page, To Kill a Mockingbird remains a classic text. Despite complaints about its so-called moralistic preachiness, its “inconsistent” shift between and adult and prepubescent narrator, and its “over-sentimentalized” prose style, I believe the novel will continue to find still more readers who will “own” its characters, embrace its themes, and recommend it to another generation. I am convinced that decades from now, Scout, Jem, Dill, Atticus, Calpurnia, Tom, Boo, Mayella, and Bob will continue to live in the imagination of new readers who will own them, just as I do now.
    Acknowledgments
    There are so many people that have contributed to making this book a reality. Once again I need to thank David Kellam Brown for his cover illustration. His talent is incredible, and I am happy to have him participate once again in an important volume of literary criticism. Spot art was provided by Claire Walsh, and I owe her a debt of thanks as well. Without Maggie Seligman, who contributed the foreword and close readings of all the essays, I am sure that the accuracy of details and references would be less meticulous. As a person who has taught Mockingbird many times, Maggie was able to find numerous errors and to help contributors be confident of their accuracy both in quotes and in specific details they recorded from Lee’s plotline. I am grateful for her feedback and for her willingness to spend extra time in writing the foreword to this collection. To my production editor at Scarecrow Press, Jayme Bartles Reed, I once again offer gratitude. Her sharp proofreading skills and clear editing made this second book for Scarecrow much easier than the first. To the contributors, with their various skills, I send my warm congratulations for a job well done. Deadlines were met, revisions were prompt, and the responses to suggested changes were warm and friendly. That makes an editor’s job pleasant indeed. On this fiftieth anniversary of Lee’s novel, I believe all readers should pause to reassess the complexity and greatness of this novel. While it is true that more has been written about Mockingbird in law reviews than in literary criticism, I hope this volume will mark a change in that pattern, and the opinion that Mockingbird is merely a children’s book will become a critical assessment of the past and one that will not resurface in the future.
    Editor’s Note
    In order to facilitate easy location of the quotes from To Kill a Mockingbird , I have changed all references to the novel to a standard edition: Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006). Please consult this version for all quotes. The title To Kill a Mockingbird is shortened to TKAM in text citations.

Part 1
Educational Approaches

Chapter 1
What Teachers (Don’t) Say:
A Grounded Theory Approach to Online Discussions of
To Kill a Mockingbird
    James B. Kelley
    Online forums for talking about creative literature—which include the commercial Internet sites eNotes.com, SparkNotes.com, Amazon.com, and Oprah.com—are often ignored by contemporary literary critics, if not dismissed outright as unreliable or even undesirable resources for persons wishing to explore meaning in a given literary work. These popular and ever-growing online forums, however, are heavily trafficked by contemporary readers and thus present a unique opportunity to explore how a popular novel is being read and discussed