Harper Lee: A Classic Gone

Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird, recently passed away at the age of 89. According to her family, she passed away unexpectedly in her sleep. Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama. She lived in Alabama her whole childhood, including while she attended college at the University of Alabama, until she moved to New York to pursue writing.

It took her eight years to write the story that has now become a classic, To Kill A Mockingbird. When she first submitted the novel for editing, it was sent back and she was told to rewrite it. After many additional years of trial and error, To Kill a Mockingbird finally got published in 1960. The book was an immediate success, winning the Pulitzer Prize less than a year after being published. Today, about a million copies of To Kill A Mockingbird are sold every year, and the total number of copies sold has reached nearly 30 million.

Since being published, To Kill A Mockingbird has become a very highly used/read book in schools. In Park City, every student must read this novel at some point, whether it’s in seventh grade, eighth grade, or sometime in high school. This novel gives a very clear image of what it was like for a lawyer to defend a black man in the early 1930’s. There are many valuable lessons that can be learned from this book, whether the lessons are social, historical, or both.

Harper Lee wrote a classic that has become a very important book to many people. Although she will be missed, there is no doubt that she will never be forgotten because of the great work she produced in her lifetime.

Sources

Sheets, Connor. "Harper Lee Dead at Age of 89: 'To Kill a Mockingbird' Author Passes Away." AL.com. Alabama News, 19 Feb. 2016. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.