God Bless Harper Lee

If you ask people to name their favorite books, odds are "To Kill Mockingbird" by Harper Lee is on most lists. Many of my writing friends claim it as one of their favorites. It's one of my favorites, too. Harper Lee's ground-breaking book, the only one she's ever published, became an instant best seller and a classic which has sold millions of copies, and it continues to make bestseller lists.

Fifty years ago today, on July 11, 1960, Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" was published. The following year she was awarded a Pulitizer Prize for fiction.

I read "To Kill a Mockingbird" in high school during the mid-1960s, a turbulent time for civil rights in America. I remember being impressed by the bravery of Scout and the wisdom of her father Atticus Finch.

Flash forward to the 1980s. My husband Walt and I and our two children Julie and Erik were living in Germany when Julie read "To Kill a Mockingbird" while she was in high school. For Julie, living overseas and being a teenager was a time of big hair, shopping, boys, and make-up, but it also was a time when we bonded through a book we both had read and liked.

A few years ago a thirty-something neighbor was out walking her new yellow lab puppy. When I asked her what the pup's name was, she answered, "Scout."

"From 'To Kill a Mockingbird'?" I asked.

A wide grin stretched across her face. "You're the first person who's made the connection," she said.

Our conversation switched from dogs to books.

This past year my granddaughter Cari read "To Kill a Mockingbird" while a high school freshman. At night while she worked on her English homework, we discussed the book. It brought back memories of when her mom, my late daughter Julie, and I talked about Scout, Boo Radley, and Atticus Finch.

Last week for my husband's birthday, Walt, Cari, Michael, and I all rode out to our place in Osage County. As we drove down winding country roads past farms and fields and cows and horses. Eleven-year-old Michael spotted a huge oak tree out in the middle of a field. He asked why it was there. Walt speculated that some farmers didn't trust banks and buried money and valuables around trees, but they wanted to be able to keep it in their sight.

Cari chimed in. "That tree reminds me of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and Boo Radley."

Much has changed over the past 50 years.

The book's cover has an updated look, but for me it will always be a book of special memories of times that connected me with with friends, neighbors, and especially loved ones.

So, Happy Anniversary to "To Kill a Mockingbird," and for creating such a wonderful story and such cherished memories, thanks and God bless Harper Lee!