Library staff on “To Kill a Mockingbird”

Library staff on To Kill a Mockingbird

The Library staff honors the legacy of Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird by telling the stories of when we first read the book.

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I actually don’t think I ever read it in school or read it as a child, although I knew that it was an important book that I should read. I read it just a couple of years ago when I was working at a school and the kids were all studying it. I felt I better finally get around to reading this. So I read it recently and of course it lived up to all of my expectations. On a side note, it is the number one stolen book at our Library and Simon Gallo keeps a stash in our basement from our donations to replace it each time it gets lost. – Abigail Altman, reference and collections librarian

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I remember that the book was the first I had to do a close read for. We would have discussions for it, and highlight parts and write notes on the side. It was the first time that I could write in a book and look for symbolism and that experience was so intense and fun. It’s what I remember most about it. – Audrey Chapuis, reference and collections librarian

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I put off reading it for a while because it’s one of those classics that you’re supposed to read and sometimes it just takes time to get to it. I read it as an adult and loved it and you wonder why you didn’t read it before. – Celeste Rhoads, children’s and young adults’ services manager

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I read the To Kill a Mockingbird in 8th grade, along with other classics like One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Good Earth that same year. I had a great English teacher who set-up a mock trial in class based on the book and I played a jury member. We had to remember lines from the book and play it all out. – Pauline Lemasson, external relations manager

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I read to kill a Mockingbird when I was a sophomore in high school, and if I recall correctly it was a time when we were discussing racial injustice in history. We also read the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn around then too. Several things struck me about reading the book. The first was how I hadn’t yet read a book that showed the world through the eyes of a young girl. Especially adult stuff about how society functions and not always for the best. And secondly it was also the very first book I read that was also a film where I didn’t know anything about who played the characters beforehand. Our class watch the film days after finishing the book and I remember being quite taken with how Gregory Peck and Robert Duvall were in the film and how contrasted with my imagination and my mind’s eye for how the characters of Atticus Finch and Boo Radley were portrayed in another medium. – Grant Rosenberg, programs manager