‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Removed From School in Mississippi

,I was shocked and heartbroken to learn that Eighth graders in Biloxi, Miss., will no longer be required to read “To Kill a Mockingbird," Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about racial inequality and the civil rights movement that has been taught in countless classrooms and influenced generations of readers.

The book last year was temporarily removed from the library shelves of a school district in Virginia along with “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” after a parent of a biracial student complained that the language in the novels was divisive. The Accomack County School Board voted to reinstate both books less than a week later.

In the midst of this controversy, I was overjoyed to be contacted by a thoughtful husband whose wife, an 8th-grade teacher whose favorite book is "To Kill a Mockingbird"!  He asked for a "read" fold in this magnificent classic.

Perhaps if we talked about race more there would be fewer people cavalierly tossing out hurtful racist language. 

For a list of "The Banned Books Your Child Should Read" click here.