To Kill a Mockingbird

Author: Harper Lee
Year: 1960
Famous for: Boo Radley, Atticus’s rifle skills, a ham costume.
Main character: The spunky Scout Finch, who tells the story about the years before and after her attorney father defended a black man for a crime against a white woman in their small southern town.

In the sleepy little town of Maycomb, Alabama, the most excitement that ever goes on is when Scout Finch and her brother, Jem, try to catch a glimpse of Maycomb’s most mysterious citizen: The ghostly Boo Radley. The most excitement, that is, until the summer their father, Atticus Finch, signs up to defend Tom Robinson, a black man (falsely) accused of raping a white woman.

But Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is about so much more than Scout and Jem and Boo and Tom. It’s about prejudice. It’s about courage. It’s about what happens when innocence comes into contact with evil (and vice versa).

If that all sounds just a little somber—or a little too boring—take heart. 60second Recap® says, “_To Kill a Mockingbird_ is the absolute best book we ever read in school. Seriously!” See what we mean in these 10 60second Recap®s. (We’ll even explain the boring stuff.)