Recommended Resources

Quicklinks: More on the Book and Author | More by Lee | Web Resources | Teacher Resources

If you would like to learn more about To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee or the historical context of the novel, the Chicago Public Library recommends the following list of online and print resources.

More on the Book and Author

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird
Edited by Harold Bloom

“Prolepsis and Anachronism: Emmet Till and the Historicity of To Kill a Mockingbird.”
By Patrick Chura
Southern Literary Journal, Spring 2000

“To Kill a Mockingbird: Harper Lee’s Tragic Vision”
By R.A. Dave
Indian Studies in American Fiction, Karnatak University and the Macmillan Company of India, 1974

“Literature and Place: Varieties of Regional Experience”
By Fred Erisman
Journal of Regional Cultures, Fall/Winter 1981

“The Romantic Regionalism of Harper Lee”
By Fred Erisman
Alabama Review v. 26 (1973), p. 122–136

“Store and Mockingbird: Two Pulitzer Novels about Alabama.”
By William Going
Essays on Alabama Literature, University of Alabama Press, 1975

To Kill a Mockingbird: Threatening Boundaries
By Claudia Durst Johnson
Twayne, 1994

Understanding To Kill a Mockingbird: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources and Historic Documents
Greenwood Press, 1994

“The Secret Courts of Men’s Hearts: Code and Law in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird”
Studies in American Fiction v. 19 (Autumn 1991), p. 129–39

The Pulitzer Prize Novels: A Critical Backward Look
By W.J. Stuckey
University of Oklahoma Press, 1981

The Writings of Harper Lee

“Love—In Other Words”
Vogue, April 15, 1961, p. 64–65

“Christmas to Me”
McCalls, December 1961, p. 63

“A Word From Harper Lee”
The Screenplay of To Kill a Mockingbird
By Horton Foote
Harcourt Brance and World, 1964

Web Resources

To Kill a Mockingbird: Then and Now
1997
Provides preparation and instructional activities for both the novel and the film based on the novel.

To Kill a Mockingbird: An Historical Perspective
By Kathleen Prody and Nicolet Whearty
2003
Through studying primary source materials from the Library of Congress American Memory website, students can better grasp how historical events and human forces have shaped relationships between black and white, and rich and poor, cultures of our country.

Atlantic Monthly Classic Review of To Kill a Mockingbird
By Phoebe Adams
1960

Teacher Resources

Articles

“The Discovery Route to Values, Via Literature: To Kill a Mockingbird and the Importance of Individuals”
By Virgina T. LeSeuer
ED036526 1968
A 10th-grade teaching unit that suggests ways to get students to think critically about values as they read.

“To Kill a Mockingbird: Then and Now—A 35th Anniversary Celebration”
Teacher Study Guide
ED406711 1997
Prepared in honor of the 35th anniversary of the release of the film.

“Getting Together, Getting Along, Getting to the Business of Teaching and Learning”
By Margaret A. Cintorino
English Journal, January 1993
Available on Chicago Public Library computers.
Actual taped 10th-grade discussions of To Kill a Mockingbird.

“A Character Comes to Life in the Classroom”
By Brenda Schaefer
English Journal, October 1989
Available on Chicago Public Library computers.
Tells how a teacher’s role-playing stimulated student interest and provoked a lively discussion of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Websites

Mapping the Mockingbird
Education World
2000
Helps students become more observant as they read and gain a mental picture of the novel’s setting.

Maycomb News Today
This activity can help students clarify their understanding of specific events in To Kill a Mockingbird while at the same time they learn about the process of newspaper writing.

The To Kill a Mockingbird Student Survival Guide
By Nancy Louise Rutherford
2001
This website has been set up to be an annotation to the text of the novel. Many of the annotations contain links to pictures or other websites to further help you in understanding your reading.