*Monday 2-9*

I am reading To Kill a Mockingbird. This story is told through the eyes of a little girl, Jean Louise Finch, Scout. It starts talking about her family. The first family member she talks about is her brother Jeremy Finch or Jem. She is talking about the events that lead up to him breaking his arm. He was so worried that he wasn't going to be able to play football anymore. Then it starts talking about her mother. She died when Scout was about 2 and when Jem was 6. She doesn't really miss her because she didn't really know her or remember her.The other family members that live with them are Atticus Finch, the father who became a lawyer in a nearby town called Maycomb. Jack Finch, Atticus's brother who went to med school, and their sister Alexandra Finch who stayed to manage the farm and keep things running. Jem, Scout, and Atticus live in a house in Maycomb on one of the main streets with their cook whose name is Calpurina.

When Jem and Scout get a little older, they have some neighbors move in. There was a little boy who called himself Dill, but his real name was Charles Baker Harris. They get bored of it one day and Dill has an idea to lure Boo Radley out of his house. Radley was a mysterious neighbor that never came out of his house. Arthur "Boo" Radley got in trouble with the law one time and his father imprisoned him in the house for punishment. Boo stabbed his father, but his father refused to put him in an asylum. No one heard from Boo for 15 years, and when his father died, his brother Nathan came to live with him. He still refused to leave his house.

September comes around and Dill and his family move back to the town that they came from. Scout goes back to school and her and her teacher, Miss Caroline, don't get along very well. Scout realizes that Mrs. Caroline isn't very good with children. A boy named Walter also goes to school. He has a big family and they are really poor. Scout tries to explain that to Miss Caroline, but she doesn't want to hear it and she gets so sick of it that she slaps Scouts hand with a ruler.

Scout gets mad at Walter for getting her in trouble and she rubs his nose in the dirt. Jem comes over and gets Scout off of him. Jem invites him over for supper and Walter and Atticus sit there and talk about farming like grown men. Walter puts molasses all over his vegies and meet and Scout makes fun of him. Calpurina calls Scout into the kitchen and scolds her. Then the next day at school Miss Caroline is startled by cootie that comes out of a boys hair. This boy, Burris, and his family are even more poor than Walter's family. He only makes an appearance so that he doesn't get in trouble with the law. He leaves school and makes the teacher cry.

Response

• I think that this book is going to be good. I think that this being told in a girls point of view will be easier for me to understand than if it was told in Jem's point of view. It'll be interesting to find out how Atticus and Calpurina take care of these children.