A Children's Book that Made a Difference in My Life

I'm not necessarily sure that To Kill a Mockingbird is considered a children's book, but it has made a profound difference in my life.  To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1960s novel written by Harper Lee that focuses on a Southern family during the Great Depression.  It is narrated by 6-year-old Scout Finch, who is able to discuss serious issues like rape and racial inequality with humor and warmth.  In the novel, Scout's father, Atticus is a lawyer that defends an African American man, Tom Robinson, who charged for raping a young Southern girl.  Scout and her brother Jem are teased for their father's actions.  Although it is clear that Tom is innocent, the jury finds him guilty and he dies trying to escape from prison.

I was a little older than Scout, 12-years-old, when I first read To Kill a Mockingbird, but I didn't completely understand it.  The novel deals with serious issues, including rape, racial inequality, gender roles, class, and a loss of innocence.  When I first read the novel, I didn't even understand what rape was and the context of life in the South during the 60s.  To Kill a Mockingbird was taught in my 7th grade literature class, which helped me understand the book’s historical perspective.  But it was also a place I could discuss other themes in the novel that I didn't understand.  I was particularly disgusted by the racial inequality in the novel.  To Kill a Mockingbird truly changed outlook towards life and my attitudes towards others.

Since the first time I read To Kill a Mockingbird with my 7th grade class, I've reread it numerous times.  For me, the novel helps me evaluate what is fair, compassionate, honest, and true-- and what it's like to be a moral person that carries herself with integrity.  And even though I didn't completely understand the serious issues being addressed in the novel the first time I read it, I still felt deeply saddened and enraged by the injustices that I had not necessarily encountered in the world.  It was the first book that set me on a path to oppose racism and other injustices.