To Kill a Mockingbird

Growing up in a small Southern town, Jem and Scout Finch think they know their family and neighbors: There's Boo Radley, the neighborhood recluse, whom the children attempt to lure out of hiding; cranky old Mrs. Dubose is secretly addicted to morphine; their odd playmate, Dill Harris, comes to stay with his aunt next door each summer; and then there's Atticus, their father, and their hero. At first barely penetrating their world of treehouses and elaborate reenactments of pulp novels are rumors of a black man accused of raping a white woman. In 1930s Alabama, her accusation all but proves his guilt. Yet lawyer Atticus questions the charge and defends the accused man in a town steeped in prejudice. Through the eyes of the children, as they try to understand the reactions of the townspeople and make sense of the crumbling world around them, the irrationality of racism is laid bare.