Celebrating 50 years of "To Kill a Mockingbird"

For those who somehow missed it, Sunday is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Harper Lee’s classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and dozens of events -- readings, mock trials, silent auctions, birthday parties -- are being held across the country to celebrate, according to the Washington Post. In a country with an attention span of about 10 seconds, this is quite an achievement.

And for those who somehow never read it, or who never watched the great movie adaptation with Gregory Peck, or who never listened to a discussion in English class, or who never listened to Sissy Spacek’s pleasurable reading on tape (or CD), Mockingbird is a novel of racism and redemption. It tells the story of a Southern lawyer, Atticus Finch, who defends a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman, and the related tale of his young children -- Scout and Jem -- and their fascination with a mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley.

Seen through the adult eyes of one of the main characters, Scout, who remembers back to the events when she was 6 years old, the book still delights and moves young people as much as it did when it was first published (I’ve watched this with my own children and their classmates).

Find out more at the Washington Post blog The Answer Sheet.