after its publication, To Kill a Mockingbird was translated into 10 languages and today is
available in over 40 languages. The novel has never been out of print since its release in 1960.
What were the initial reviews for To Kill a Mockingbird?
The New Yorker described Lee as "a skilled, unpretentious, and totally ingenuous writer."
The Atlantic Monthly described the book as "pleasant, undemanding reading" but found
"a six year old girl with the prose style of a well-educated adult" as implausible. The
reviewer Granville Hicks found the book "melodramatic and contrived." Southern writer
Flannery O'Conner stated, "I think for a child's book it does all right. It's interesting that
all the folks that are buying it don't know they're reading a child's book. Somebody ought
to say what it is." What do you think that this book is?
And what is your experience of To Kill a Mockingbird? Come share your observations
and insights at our next discussion on Thursday, May 4th at 10 AM.