It's that time of year again...

If you know anything at all about me, then you know that To Kill A Mockingbird is, in my opinion, the greatest book ever written... and you probably also know that it is my absolute FAVORITE thing in the whole wide world to teach. Does it have a slow start? Yes. But one can't disregard Scout and Jem and Dill's obsession with Boo Radley in Part One because Boo Radley is such a crucial element to the plot in Part Two!

I get teary-eyed even thinking about this book. Seriously. I was making a worksheet for Chapter Twenty-One and I cried. While making a WORKSHEET. I am just so emotionally attached to this book that it's almost unbelievable. But I love it. Every year, I love it more and more.

Anyway.

Today, my sophomore classes read the penultimate and ultimate chapters of the novel. Well... I read those chapters to them, because while I may hire folks to read my books for Audible, I actually very much enjoy reading aloud.

The book that I most love reading aloud (not surprisingly) is... To Kill A Mockingbird!

So today I read to my kids and at the end of each class, I posed this question: "Imagine yourself twenty years from now. You'll be thirty-five or thirty-six, right? Someone mentions this novel. What will you remember most?"

"Atticus," so many of my students responded, "because Atticus is such a stand-up character. He has strong beliefs but he's level-headed regarding how he goes about sharing them with people. And he's fair. He's such a fair person."

Despite the fact that Atticus Finch is a fictional character, he gets a lot of hate online. People refer to him as a "white savior" because he is a white man defending a man of color in the 1930s. I'm not sure how Tom Robinson could have ended up in a different scenario seeing as only white men were allowed to be lawyers in the 1930s, but perhaps those who believe Atticus is a white savior would actually prefer that he be a racist..? And not defend Tom Robinson..? I'm not entirely sure. Personally, I think it's great that he stood up for what was right.

Atticus, like all of us, certainly has his faults. Some people might not like the fact that he allows his children to call him by his first name. Some argue that he is a bigot. He employs Calpurnia, after all, and if he was really a fair-minded man, wouldn't he refrain from doing this?

I would make (and have made) the argument that it was the 1930s.

I would also make (and have also made) the argument that we all have implicit biases... because we are all human.

Last night, I witnessed a remarkably interesting display of self-realization. While attending a meeting, I watched someone become defensive because they didn't like the definition of the word "bigot." No one actually referred to this person as a bigot, but they felt inclined to express just how much they disagreed with the definition of "bigot" because, by the definition of the word "bigot," the person experiencing the self-realization was (apparently) a bigot.

(For the record, I cannot speak to whether or not the person actually is a bigot because I don't really know them.)

It was just such a fascinating thing to observe, though, and I've thought of it several times today because I think Atticus Finch really made so many of his fellow Maycombians aware of their own bigotry. And Scout too! I mean, look at the revelation Mr. Walter Cunningham has outside the jail in Chapter Fifteen. Mr. Cunningham is a good person caught up in a bad moment. And sure, he could justifiably be labeled a bigot... but he could also be labeled an excellent father and a hardworking man and a fellow who is only trying to do what's right for his family. The thing that's cool about Mr Cunningham, though? He admits it when he's wrong, and he realizes that maybe his view isn't the only view. His opinion isn't the only opinion. And in this instance, it's not Atticus Finch who makes him realize this, but rather Atticus's young daughter, Scout.

As per usual, I digress. Let me get back to my students, eh?

Overwhelmingly, Atticus Finch will be remembered twenty years from now... but so will Mr. Dolphus Raymond (one of my favorite characters of all time, despite the fact that he only shows up in one chapter), and Jem Finch (because that scene where he lost his pants in the fence is a hilarious one!), and Dill (because he sure can embellish a story...), and Miss Maudie (because who else can make "His food doesn't stick going down, does it?" pack as much of a punch as "I hope you choke"?), and that scene in which Atticus has no choice but to shoot Tim Johnson (because he wanted his kids to see that "Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but [beginning] anyway and [seeing] it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.”

Today, I won.

Today, I shared something that means so very much to me with a group of sophomores whom (I hope) will also remember my love and enthusiasm for this novel when its title is mentioned twenty years from now.

Today, I read those penultimate and ultimate chapters without crying... but I am crying now.

I love that book.

I love teaching that book.

To Kill A Mockingbird is, for me, one of life's greatest joys.

Here are TWO of life's greatest joys... in one photograph!