On Atticus Finch and unpopular opinions

Warning: This post contains spoilers!

Following the release of Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman in 2015, many readers decried the new book, stating that it tarnished their view of Atticus Finch as a hero and an effective community leader. Many people called out Atticus’s deep racism and stated that this completely changed how they read Lee’s first published novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.

What some don’t realize is that Go Set a Watchman was written first and that Lee, after submitting it to a publisher, was told that it could not be published and that she should write a coming of age novel set in the same town with many of the same characters. From this suggestion came To Kill a Mockingbird, which has been taught in high school for decades and is (in some minds) the quintessential American story. When Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, she was thinking about Go Set a Watchman - she already knew where her characters ended up and this was a way to look at how they got to that point.

In my mind, the ending of Go Set a Watchman was something that we needed - and something that makes Atticus Finch a more complex and interesting character and makes Lee’s tales come to life more. Here are the reasons I believe this:

1. Child’s point of view - In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout narrates a tale of her father’s heroism. In all the years that people have been reading this tale, it’s interesting that no one seemed to count Scout as an unreliable narrator. It took a sequel for the truth to come out - Scout is a child with biases and a lack of understanding about many grown-up things. Readers are limited to seeing Scout’s point of view and her thoughts - and Scout doesn’t see everything and doesn’t understand everything around her. Scout spends her childhood putting her father on a pedestal - and this becomes more obvious in Go Set a Watchman. Jean Louise (the grown-up version of Scout) is so uncomfortable disagreeing with her father and seeing any flaw in him - it takes time for her to come to terms with the fact that her father is old fashioned and a product of his times and that he doesn’t fit her ideas of what he should be. For me, this is when Scout truly grew up - when she was able to see her father as a flawed being and still love and accept him. Scout’s difficulty with this makes her (and Atticus) far more human than they would be otherwise. This also speaks to Lee’s storytelling ability that Scout was shielded from this viewpoint for so many years - as a real child probably would be.
2. Flawed=fascinating - Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, we’re led to believe that Atticus Finch is a significant figure in the community and that he’s the most moral, strongest, and most wonderful man in town. Now, we see Atticus in a different light - and that changes everything and offers a whole new level of understanding about our hero. While he’s a character who’s been closely examined and analyzed for decades, this new information completely changes our perspective of him and offers a new angle to see him from. I’m sure we’ll have many more decades of analyzing Atticus and seeing how the two books work together to give us a fuller picture of the man.
3. More realistic - All throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, it seemed like Atticus was a little too good to be true. And it turns out he was. Once we learn about Atticus’s flaw, things make a little more sense - a man who was born and raised in the south would probably hold the same viewpoints that Atticus does - his far more progressive viewpoints as he defends Tom Robinson are wonderful from our modern perspective, but must have been somewhat difficult to swallow when To Kill a Mockingbird was first published.
4. More relatable - For me, this is a big deal. While Atticus is definitely a more relatable character for being flawed, his relationship with his daughter becomes so much more realistic. How many people can say that they love their parents without any reservations or difficulty or hesitations or disagreements? I argue that very few people have straightforward relationships with their parents - often the relationship is more “I love my parents, but…” or “My mom is wonderful, though I wish she’d _____ less” or “My dad and I don’t see eye to eye about _____, but we make it work”. For me, Jean Louise’s relationship with her father is now quite a bit more relatable and understandable.

If you’re still struggling to understand why Harper Lee chose to characterize Atticus Finch like she did, this article may shed some light on the reasons for the differences between the two novels. Also, Lee’s own relationship with her father was changing as she moved from Go Set a Watchman to To Kill a Mockingbird and that may have contributed to the change in her writing - read more about that here.

What do you think about Atticus Finch’s depiction in each book? Do you think this new information changes Atticus completely?

On why you should keep learning once you're done with school

When I first graduated from college, it was kind of nice to kick back and only focus on work and not having to constantly learn new things. While I did eventually break out and feel the need to learn more things, I’d recommend not ever letting yourself fall into this rut. There are many reasons why you should learn more, even if you aren’t in school anymore:

• Makes you a better employee/employer - Regardless of what your field is, learning more about it will enable you to be a more valued member of the field, giving you chances to show off how clever and knowledgeable you are. Learning more can help you to be more innovative in your job, gaining recognition and praise from coworkers and higher ups.
• Helps your career - As stated before, learning more will help you be a better employee. But it can also open up new job opportunities, promotions, and networking opportunities. Knowing more about your field makes you a better candidate for new positions in the field and enables you to do more tasks within one company.
• Makes you a more interesting person - Maybe you aren’t too interested in job-related learning. That’s okay. Regardless of what topic you pursue, learning more about any topic makes you a more interesting and diverse person - more fun to talk to, more enthusiastic about life and the world around you.
• Gives you different opportunities to connect with people - Along the same lines, learning more gives you opportunities to connect with more types of people. Because of my reading about music history, I’ve been able to connect in interesting ways with some interesting people - and talking about music is usually an enjoyable connection piece for me.
• Helps you find new interests/hobbies - Learning more about lots of things can help you find new things you’re interested in. In the past few years, I’ve picked up knitting and a fervent desire to know everything about tea. At the time, these were passing fancies, something that intrigued me that I wanted to learn a bit more about. Now, these are core hobbies for me. Choosing to learn a bit more about topics that sparked my interest has really worked out for me and it can work for you as well.
• Broadens your horizons - Often, the world can feel like such a small place, especially if you’re unable to travel much or get outside your comfort zone easily. Learning about something new (even if you just read a book on a topic you know nothing about) is an easy way to make your world a bit bigger and get outside your comfort zone a bit. When your world gets a little bigger, it gets a whole lot more interesting as well.
• Makes you feel more fulfilled - For me, this is the biggest motivation to learn more. Learning makes me feel happy and like I’m doing something with my time. Whenever I start getting anxious that I’m not doing enough with my time, taking a few minutes to learn about something new helps ground me and let me see that I am spending my time in productive ways.

If you need more motivation to learn more, check out this article and this article.

What motivates you to learn? What do you like learning about?

On YA books about school

This list was a little more difficult to put together because SO MANY YA books have school settings or themes. In making this list, we focused on books with stronger school settings or themes.

• The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
• Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
• The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
• Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carringer
• I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have To Kill You by Ally Carter
• Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
• Avalon High by Meg Cabot
• This Side of Home by Renee Watson
• Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler
• Bitter Melon by Cara Chow
• Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes
• Falling into Place by Amy Zhang
• Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
• King Dork by Frank Portman
• Goodbye, Rebel Blue by Shelley Coriell

What books would you add to this list? What books don’t belong? Which ones have you read?

On middle grade books about school

By the time kids get to be 9-12, they have a good feel for school and know what to expect of school. At this point, it may be time to break out the silly, feel-good kids books about school. Below are some of our suggestions:

• Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein
• Pickle: The (Formerly) Anonymous Prank Club of Fountain Point Middle School by Kim Baker
• The Last Boy at St. Edith’s by Lee Gjertsen Malone
• Miss Ellicott’s School for the Magically Minded by Sage Blackwood
• Jake the Fake Keeps it Real by Craig Robinson and Adam Mansbach
• Ms. Bixby’s Last Day by John David Anderson
• The Best Man by Richard Peck
• Ghost by Jason Reynolds
• I Funny by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein
• Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
• The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
• I Heart Band by By Michelle Schusterman
• Frindle by Andrew Clements
• Genie Wishes by Elizabeth Dahl
• Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff

Middle grade books aren’t something I specialize in, so I got quite a bit of help here, here, here, and here. If you need more middle grade book suggestions, be sure to check those out.

What middle grade books about school do you love? What books are missing from this list?

On children's books about school

It’s time for school to start again! Young children who are fairly new to school might be a bit nervous about starting, but here are some books to help them know what to expect and to feel more comfortable with the idea of going to school:

• My Best Friend Is As Sharp As a Pencil: And Other Funny Classroom Portraits by Hanoch Piven
• School’s First Day of School by Adam Rex
• Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? by Audrey Vernick
• My Teacher Sleeps in School by Leatie Weiss
• On My Way To School by Sarah Maizes.
• The Art Lesson by Tomie de Paola
• This Is the Way We Go to School: A Book About Children Around the World by Edith Baer
• If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff
• Kindergarten Rocks! by Katie Davis
• Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
• Lunch Money And Other Poems About School by Carol Diggory Shields
• Amelia Bedelia Goes Back To School by Herman Parish
• The Pirate of Kindergarten by George Ella Lyons
• David Goes To School by David Shannon
• Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco
• The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
• Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard
• Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus by Barbara Park
• Horrible Harry in Room 2B by Suzy Kline
• Vampires Don’t Wear Polka Dots by Debbie Dadey

Since I don’t typically read or review children’s book very often, a lot of ideas for this post came from articles here, here, and here. Feel free to look at them for even more ideas about school.

What children’s books about school have you loved? Which books would you add to this list? Are there any you feel like don’t belong?

On school-related charities you can donate to today

Education is something that I’m incredibly passionate about. I remember the first time that I was able to donate to help someone’s education. I was in third grade and at the end of the year, my teacher collected extra school supplies that we wouldn’t be using to give to classrooms in need. So my lightly-used crayons went to serve in a different classroom to help a kid wanting to learn. I remember feeling incredibly proud of my (small) sacrifice and glad that someone else would get to benefit from my supplies instead of letting them go to waste.

Since that time, I’ve found that I’m always a little more willing to donate money, time, or resources when there is education involved. If it’s going to help someone learn and better themselves, I’m all in.

If you have a similar mindset, I’ve put together some bookish (and education-related) charities that you can donate to. This way, we can kick off the school year on a good note.

If you already help in classrooms around the world as a teacher, administrator, volunteer, dedicated student, or monetary contributor, thank you for your time and assistance. Without people like you, our school systems would not be nearly as beneficial as they are today. And, with more people out there who are willing to help (and be innovative), we can make our school systems even better.

• Donors Choose - On this website, teachers post contributions they need and list exactly what materials they’re planning on buying, the projects they’ll use the funds to do, and how this will benefit their classrooms. You can search by location, subject, amount of money requested, age group, resources needed, type of project, school districts, etc. You’re also able to ask for thank you notes from the students so that you can see how your donation is benefitting the classroom and hear firsthand how wonderful it’s made their educational experience. When I went on this site, I was able to find a teacher from my elementary school - who I found out had taught my youngest sibling years ago. I was able to give some money towards a science project she wants to do with her elementary school students and it was wonderful to know that the money was benefitting kids in a school and community I know and love. The request for donations is still open, so I haven’t received any crayon-drawn thank you notes yet, but I’m excited to be part of something that will benefit young kids’ lives.
• Pencils of Promise - This group works to ensure that children around the world get the education they need to get by. In addition to funding several schools in third world countries, Pencils of Promise raises funds to provide training and resources to teachers in need so that students can become proficient in reading, writing, and math. They also raise awareness in schools about basic hygiene and have given funds to build hand-washing stations in many schools that don’t have enough for the students. Their results are impressive. While I haven’t officially donated to their foundation, I have set up my Amazon.com account to donate a portion of my purchases to the foundation (you can learn how to do that here). So far, I’ve only donated 34 cents, but it’s a start (and I keep forgetting to log onto Amazon Smile instead of my regular Amazon account, so things will get better once I remember that).
• Crayons to Classrooms - This Ohio-based group provides classroom supplies to area classrooms at no cost to the teacher or the school. While their work primarily focuses on Ohio schools that are below the federal poverty line, this is one way to directly benefit schools and children who really need to assistance.
• Youth Journalism International - This program is open to youth 12-24 who are interested in journalism. Youth Journalism International provides these youth with training, connects them with like-minded peers, and helps promote cultural understanding. Their blog also has many articles written by youth in the program.
• Free2Luv - This program works to stop bullying in schools (especially for LGBTQ+ youth) and to encourage students to be unique, innovative, and themselves. The focus is on making schools safer, more accepting, and kinder places for all students.

Are there any school-related charities you’re passionate about? Where do you donate when you have some extra cash?

On SCHOOL

I love school. Education and gaining knowledge is something that is incredibly important to me. I strongly believe that anyone can benefit from knowing a bit more and reading a good book. So now that it’s September (and school is starting again), I really want to focus on school, education, and books that can really benefit people and make them smarter (or just better-read). So this month, all of our posts will be directly related to school and education.

“But aren’t book blogs already about education?” I can hear you nay-sayers in the back groaning. “Maybe,” I respond. Because maybe books are about being educated, but this blog is mostly dedicated to those who read for fun and who read for entertainment’s sake. This month, we will be wholly dedicated to education and books. Keep reading next week for a bunch of posts directly related to education systems and educating yourself and throughout the entire month for a focus on school, education (outside of school), and school-related issues.

I want to hear from you. If you haven’t already told us your stories about getting good book recommendations from teachers and librarians, please submit them here. And in the comments, please answer one of these questions: How have books influenced your life? What have you learned from books? What books taught you more than a classroom? What books did you read because of a class? How has education blessed your life?