To Kill a Mockingbird

By Harper Lee

Book Overview

Look for The Land of Sweet Forever, a posthumous collection of newly discovered short stories and previously published essays and magazine pieces by Harper Lee, coming October 21, 2025.

Voted America's Best-Loved Novel in PBS's The Great American Read

Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep South--and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred

One of the most cherished stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than forty million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father--a crusading local lawyer--risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061120081
• ISBN13: 9780061120084
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Super great classic!!

A beautifully written story with strong themes of empathy and justice. The characters feel real, and the message is timeless.

Atticus is such a good father

Was such a good book. I read it in high school and couldn't get into it. Now at 31, I decided to try it again. Such a great read. Themes are still highly relevant today.

All-time classic! A must read.

I have read this book a few times over the years, and it never disappoints. I love the simplicity of the childhood stories, and the underlying seriousness of the plot. A gem of a book.

Order very good condition.

Order a very good condition. Cover was more than worn and a burn on the bottom edges. Very disappointing

To Kill A Mockingbrd

Low quality of books, crudes curts on the pages book. My first time requesting very good conditions. I bought books in like-new condition and they are much better.

Classic!

Love this sweet story so much!!

READ this book.

Every character is dripping with emotion and purpose in this raw and emotional story about the reality of American society and the demons that keep us from achieving a more equitable society. Atticus and Jean Louise (Scout) Finch, and outcast Boo Radley are archetypes of the real American hero. A man with more integrity in his pinky finger than the whole town, a child who sees the community as it is, and an outcast with an ability to right from wrong and more empathy than the town that ostracized him; everyone can learn from the thoughts, feelings, and actions of these characters. In addition to Thornton Wilder's Our Town, this book should be required reading for a more present, fairer, and just society.

Condition of the books low

I bought some books for a group of ESL students (good condition) and a couple had ripped pages and covers

One of the best reads

This has been one of my favorite books to read. Love the story and the characters. Everyone should read at least once.

Not “acceptable”

I purchased an “acceptable” copy of this book. It has scribbles and notes and marks on literally EVERY single page. This shouldn't be considered sellable, not even sold as “acceptable”

Great Read, The Narration is like nothing I have read

The narration of the book is very unique, and kept me immersed. It was funny, creative, and supremely clever. Character building was great, and I had wished the book had continued to tell the tale of Scout, Atticus, Jem, and all the others. I hope I find other books whose narrative style is similar.

An amazing book about real racism

This is a great book that shows people to treat everyone equally & not judge people by one’s race but by his or her actions alone. This was also made into an amazing movie starring Gregory Peck in 1962.

My favorite books.

This book is in my top 10 of favorite books. It's a classic for a reason.

Best book ever

It has been years since read the first time I forgot how great of a book it is

Exactly what I ordered

Got the book faster than it said i would and in better condition than I expected. It looks new!

To Kill A Mockingbird

To Kill A Mockingbird is simply one the finest stories ever told.

disappointed

I have readd more books than I can count. This one is always talked about as one of the best. I did not like the book. I expected more. But i did read all of it to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Great purchase: Consistent with product description and an awesome book

This book is an amazing classic for many reasons. It is relatively easy to read and absorbs the reader into the plot, the characters are relatable and interesting, and the story is just awesome. You need to read it! When I received the book its condition fit the description and picture of it. I'm pleased with the purchase and would recommend.

Classic Book

To Kill A Mockingbird is a true classic. Harper Lee did an excellent job with the book, and helping readers to visualize the story.

The book came intact

All pages are there, cover looks fine, everything is legible.

Wonderful story

Great quality book was like new. Enjoyable read. I recommend it for everyone.

The Greatest Novel Ever Written!

This is surely the best of the Great American Novels. You will not be disappointed by this book. Don't be mislead that it is only about the trial. While that is the pivotal moment, this book is a wonderful tale of life in the South in the Nineteen Thirties. It shows the development of its characters realistically and is simply a beautifully written story. It has the wondrous quiet humor of "Father Brown," "Tom Sawyer" and "True Grit." The latter two would certainly cout as a Great American Novel, but neither can surpass this masterpiece. It is often misunderstood as a simple story with the only one moral, or even banned for no good reason. As the author herself said, "Surely it is plain to the simplest intelligence that To Kill a Mockingbird spells out in words of seldom more than two syllables a code of honor and conduct, Christian in its ethic, that is the heritage of all Southerners. To hear that the novel is 'immoral' has made me count the years between now and 1984, for I have yet to come across a better example of doublethink." Probably the greatest fiction ever written, it is fitting the author wrote nothing else. You will not be disappointed by this book. You will read it again and again. It is truly amazing.

Classic

One of my all time favorite books. It's a classic, if you havent read it, you need to.

An American Classic

It should be on everyone's reading list.

Thank you so much. I love this book.

When u first got the book it was in rough shape, but once I told them it was a school book for my son they sent me a better copy. Thank you so much, just another reason and book why I love this website. <3

Mindblowing!!

Most teens wouldn't think to pick up a book, much less an American classic, but this is my absolute favorite book of all time! It has been my favorite since I was 11. If you are going to read a classic, this is the one to read!!:) Perfect for every age and will be loved by all!!

This is a Masterpiece. I also have it on CD. A transition between children and their eyes and what's the right thing to do and say in Court. This could teach every American how to become one with everyone, in court as a neighbor regardless who and what you are. It breaks down the way the South was and how it can be as well as all of us. I truly love this book.

To Kill A Mockingbird

This classic was ordered for my son. This classic is going to be used in my son's AP English class. So, in addition to the copy issued by his instructor, the ordered edition will be for my son's home studies.

Simply Essential Reading Vividly Encapsulates Depression-Era Racial Hatred in the Deep South

Some books so fluidly transcend the stories they contain that the characters and setting almost become incidental to the universal themes they express without contrivance. Such a book exists in Harper Lee's masterful 1960 novel, one of the most revered pieces of fiction this country has ever produced. Set in rural, Depression-era Alabama, it is a classic coming-of-age story about a precocious nine-year old tomboy named Scout. What she experiences is palpable in the virulent racism surrounding the persecution of Tom Robinson, a black man unjustly accused of raping Mayella, the abused white daughter of an unrepentant bigot, Bob Ewell. Representing Tom in court is Atticus Finch, Scout's father and the moral compass of the story. The plot moves toward a deepening exploration of the intractable conflict between tolerance and ignorance and how the pre-existing environment of hatred and mistrust makes innocent people guilty by pure circumstance. Scout embodies these themes within her own journey toward womanhood and her questions of what society expects of her. Through the travails of Tom and the town's outcast, Boo Radley, and primarily through her father's example, Scout recognizes how innate goodness can exist even in the direst circumstances. Likely because the story is semi-autobiographical, Lee is able to vividly capture the rural south and the pervasive mindset during the Depression with spellbinding accuracy. Yet for all that, the book's lasting legacy has more to do with Lee's particular lierary gift in bringing a genuine universality to her themes. Other characters weave in and out of the story - including Dill, Scout's wannabe boyfriend and the Truman Capote doppelganger - and each plays a key role in shaping the novel's core conflicts. I have to say that the author's particular literary strengths come to the fore in her empathetic depictions of the evolving relationships between these characters, for example, Scout and her father Atticus, Scout and her brother Jem, the children and Boo. Nothing seems extraneous in the story Lee tells, no small feat for a 336-page novel. She brings intense emotion to her prose, especially in describing the uncontrollable fury created by racial hatred and false accusations, for instance, in the lynch mob scene before the trial and in the vengeful attack on the children. The timing of the book's original 1960 publication turned out to be prescient, as the Civil Rights movement was just becoming national in scope thanks to the efforts of Martin Luther King and his brethren. Even if you have seen the masterful 1962 film, you owe it to yourself to read Lee's literary masterwork and sadly the only novel she ever wrote.

Pulitzer Prize Winner

When did ISBN's come into use? The 1962 Popluar Library paperback edition (price: 60 cents) that I own has a Library of Congress card catalogue number. I also have the fortieth anniversary edition. I grew up about forty miles from Miss Lee's hometown. I graduated from Miss Lee's alma mater, the University of Alabama. I have climbed to the top of the clock tower of the courthouse made famous in this book. I grew up a couple of decades after Scout, a couple of dozen miles down the road, in another small Alabama town. I read To Kill a Mockingbird as a child, and reread it every year or so. My paperback copy is held together with Scotch tape. My anniversary edition is a treasure I do not lend out. As a child who lived pretty much the same childhood as Scout and Jem, I identified heavily with them, and like most who have read and loved this American Classic, I have longed for a father like Atticus. It is no exaggeration to state that this novel, more than any other, influenced my thinking, and shaped my life. I am a writer, you see. It is certainly no surprise to me that readers tell me they see similarities between my first novel and the one that told the story of my own childhood better than I ever could, the one that certainly influenced both my desire to write and the topics I choose to write about. Whenever I think that I might write a memoir of growing up in Alabama, I read this book again, and know that I don't need to. Miss Lee told my own story, those long, dusty summers filled with friends and playing outdoors, the neighborhoods where everyone knew all the children and generally, what they were doing, the lurid rumors and legends constructed of gossip and cautionary tales, secret pacts and promises, moss-covered trees hanging over slow muddy rivers, the far-off rumblings of trouble and upsets as the civil rights movement marched inexorably closer to us, and the quiet in which it finally came to face us. I remember the silence in which they marched, and I remember reading To Kill a Mockingbird again, lying on my bed, windows open to non-existent breezes, wondering. Was Tom Robinson real? Did that really happen? What is happening now? Can I stop it? Can I do something? With all the restless yearning inside me, at ten years old, I reached for something, reading that book, lying on my back, staring at the ceiling, trying to see clearly what was coming. When I read this book, I remember Scout, the little girl who fought against change, who didn't quite understand the changes that happened despite her best efforts, and I see the girl that I was, straining to see, to understand. I wanted Scout to be my best friend, and you know what? She was. I have always liked books better than people. Some books are better friends than many people I know. Some books have helped me more, sustained me, taught me, kept me entertained, and led me closer to the person I want to be, than any person ever could. Like Scout, I am too stubborn to be told what t

A true classic

There used to be a time that the word "classic" meant something. Nowadays, it seems to only mean "more than ten years old"; quality doesn't come into the equation at all. Take, for example, the cable channel American Movie Classics, which typically features movies that are forgettable regardless of age. I prefer the classic definition of "classic", one that means something that is not only really good but withstands the test of time. Put another way, look at the Da Vinci Code. A decent book and a phenomenal best-seller, but will people still be reading it decades from now? Only time will tell. Time, however, has already told on Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, and it is clearly, by any use of the word, a classic. Although forty-seven years old, it is still as good as ever. Set in the town of Maycomb, Alabama during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird tells the tale of the Finch family: widower father Atticus, young son Jem and younger daughter (and narrator) Scout. Atticus, an attorney, has been appointed to represent Tom Robinson, accused of raping a 19-year-old girl named Mayall Ewell. Since Tom is black and Mayall is white, guilt is assumed by most of the town and the trial a mere formality. The truth plays little part. Maycomb is a stratified society. There are the "respectable" people, who - with or without money - are considered the aristocrats of the community. The Finches fit into this category. There are the poorer white people, from the poor-yet-proud Cunninghams to the "trashy" Ewells. At the bottom are the blacks. Though Atticus refuses to participate in this classism (and tries to lead his children to do the same), he is pragmatic enough to acknowledge its existence. This novel may have the trial of Tom Robinson as its centerpiece, but there is plenty more going on as we take a tour of an impoverished town in the Deep South. With this book, Lee has written one of the Great American Novels. And while some great authors are not easily readable (for example, Faulkner), Harper Lee holds the reader from the beginning to end. Has there been any author who has written something so great in his or her only effort? Yes, there are authors like Margaret Mitchell who wrote Gone With the Wind (which has a far more romantic version of the Old South), but her career was cut short by an early death; Lee is still around and still has no other books published. The one book she wrote, however, is considered one of the greatest novels ever written. It is a true classic.

Tightly written with a message for everyone

Harper Lee was encouraged to write some of her childhood memories. What in the beginning seems like the story of three childhood friends in depression era Macomb, Alabama, turns out to be packed with insights to the makeup of human kind. This story is intriguing on many levels from the history of the area to the stereotyping of people. Most of all every turn was a surprise as told in the first person from the view of Scout Finch. And instead of telling the story in a six year old vocabulary she uses an exceptionally large repertoire to describe the people and events. This story is not as slow passed as one may guess from first glance as every remark and every action will be needed for a future action. A major controversial part of the story is the trial of Tom Robinson. Hoverer this is just a catalyst to help Scout understand the nature of people including her father Atticus and you will find that as important as it is it is just a part of the story with other major characters such as Arthur "Boo" Radley. Even thought it appears that Scout is the recipient of the insights, I believe we the reader is the real recipient. I can truly say that this book has changed my outlook in life.