Pre-ordered
Release day delivery: Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Well, I did it. I just pre-ordered my ebook edition of Harper Lee's upcoming novel Go Set the Watchman." Why? You may ask why I would pre-order a book that hasn't been reviewed yet. Will this book even come close to my favorite book of all time? (Harry Potter is a close second.) Why has this manuscript not surfaced before now? There are still many questions surrounding this recently located manuscript.
I preordered this book because of the impact that To Kill A Mockingbird has had on my life. My students and I read this book in countless freshman English classes, and they STILL remember it. Some have even traveled to Monroeville, Alabama to see where Harper Lee grew up. They also wanted to compare the fictional Maycomb with this small Alabama town and see the similarities and differences.
We had a lot of class discussions on Boo Radley, his parents, Atticus, Tom, Mayella, Bob, Miss Maudie, Scout, Jem, and the list goes on. One of the things that I kept telling my students is that we don't know what goes on beyond the walls of our friends' homes. We may think we know some of the things our friends are dealing with, but we certainly can't relate totally until we live it. My students realized that Boo's life, and even Mayella's life, were more difficult that we could sometimes comprehend. We also knew that in that classroom of thirty-two people, there were those who were living their own nightmares. Atticus says, "First of all," he said, "if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." (3.85-87) Wise words to live by, I think.
So, I preordered. I am taking a chance on an author who changed my life. There are few who will ever fit into my "preorder" category, but Harper Lee, you always will.
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