To Kill A Mockingbird Summer Reading Journal

To Kill A Mockingbird Summer Reading Journal

1.
The books title: To Kill A Mockingbird
Authors name: Harper Lee
Copyright date: 1960, Renewed in 1988
Number of pages: 323

2. Summary Of The Plot:
The story is from the point of view of Scout Finch, a little girl growing up in Maycomb, Alabama, after the Great Depression. The story follows her life as she lives through many social issues, including racism in the deep South. This issue is shown when her dad who is an attorney has to defend an innocent black man who was convicted of raping a white woman.

3. Significance Of The Title:
In the book a mockingbird is seen as a harmless gentle bird that’s signs songs and Atticus tells the kids never to “kill a mockingbird” because they are good birds and don’t do anything wrong. Tom Robinson was innocent and did nothing wrong but because he was black he was wrongly convicted of rape. The mockingbird symbolizes Tom Robinson because the mockingbird and Tom Robinson are both innocent.

4. Main Characters: Scout: intelligent, tomboyish, confident, thoughtful, good. Atticus: wise, empathetic, intelligent, admirable, comfortable. Jem: hopeful, brave, curious, protective, likable.

Protagonist: I thought that Scout was the protagonist in this book. My first impression of her was that she was just an innocent little tomboy who likes playing with her brother and their friend Dill.
Antagonist: Bob Ewell was the obvious antagonist in this book. My first impression of him was that he was a drunk, he was unintelligent, and he was racist.

Text Example: “I’m real sorry that they picked you to defend that nigger that raped Mayella. I don’t know why I didn’t kill him myself instead of goin to the sheriff. That would have saved you and sheriff and the taxpayers’ lots of trouble...” one of the many examples that shows how Bob Ewell is racist.

5. Passage I Think Is Special:
“Atticus said to Jem one day, "I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird." That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. "Your father’s right," she said. "Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Page 103

6. Why I Choose The Passage: I choose this passage because it introduces one of the main ideas in the book and makes you understand the meaning of the title. This metaphor shows up all throughout the book and it gives you a good understanding of what it means. I thought it was just a pretty important passage.

a. Life Lesson From This Book:
I thought there were many life lessons in this book especially from Atticus but I think the main one was to not attack something if it hasn’t harmed you. Atticus teaches this lesson to Scout and Jem when talking about the mockingbird. I think this lesson is most important in the book. b. What I Disliked:
Overall I thought this was a really great book. It was greatly written and had many lessons. The only thing I disliked about it was some parts were a little boring but I still really liked it.