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To Kill a Mockingbird. Again.

June 30, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner 8 Comments

To Kill a Mockingbird

How long has it been since you have read To Kill a Mockingbird? I’m re-reading it now. This timeless classic is one of my favorites.  C. S. Lewis said no book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond. Books change as we do. We take away different things at different phases of our lives.

This time I’m really getting more out of To Kill a Mockingbird because I’m reading my son’s annotated copy from high school.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Tate did an impressive job noting foreshadowing, circling vocabulary words, and making comments in the margins like Calpurnia has great influence and Atticus is almost all-knowing. 

It’s like reading two stories at once—Harper Lee’s original version and my son’s running commentary. Do you remember Mystery Science Theatre?

To Kill a Mockingbird

Tate underlined sentences like this one:

Walter poured syrup on his vegetables and meat…

he would probably have poured it into his milk

had I not asked what the sam hill he was doing. (p. 24)

He wrote questions in the margins.

What does sam hill mean?

It made my heart happy to know he didn’t know the meaning of sam hill in ninth grade… (I did because I talked like Scout growing up…)

I have lots of books on my summer reading list including more classics (maybe more annotated versions). What’s on your reading list?

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

“Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I’d have the facts.”
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Scout Meets Boo Radley – To Kill a Mockingbird

 

Filed Under: Reading & Books Tagged With: Harper Lee, Mystery Science Theatre, Reading, To Kill a Mockingbird

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Comments

  1. Barbara Tate says

    June 30, 2014 at 8:07 am

    I bought To Kill. a Mockingbird about six months ago to read it again this summer. Your version sounds better.

    Reply
    • Tim says

      June 30, 2014 at 10:47 am

      I agree!!!

      Reply
  2. Tim says

    June 30, 2014 at 10:50 am

    That book was very confusing to me…I read it once, and I never did learn how to kill a mockingbird……maybe I need to re-read it, too.=).

    Reply
  3. Colene says

    June 30, 2014 at 10:51 am

    Tom and I both reread it last year. Then we read another book by Mary McDonagh Murphy (published in 2010) for a celebration of fifty years to Kill a Mockingbird. It is titled Scout, Atticus, and Boo. That is really neat to see your son’s take on it as you go along. 🙂

    Reply
  4. Kathy says

    June 30, 2014 at 11:03 am

    I love reading others’ notes in books… just finished one of Alyssa’s books with margin notes and smiled with every one! Little glimpses inside their minds 🙂

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      July 2, 2014 at 4:26 am

      They are the best! I wonder if Half-Price Books has annotated used books from kids around Dallas?

      Reply
  5. Renee' Rodgers says

    June 30, 2014 at 6:05 pm

    I have actually never read it. I think I will Kindle it….

    Reply
  6. dana says

    June 30, 2014 at 10:21 pm

    Best book ever!!!

    Reply

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Talya Tate Boerner


Hi! I'm Talya. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (Now Available!)

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