The Garland County Library is observing the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird with a celebration on Sunday, September 26th at 1 p.m.
Harper Lee’s coming-of-age tale, set in a South poisoned by prejudice, is one of the most popular novels of the twentieth century. It has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than thirty million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country.
Nannette Crane-Post, who received her MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is a faculty member in the Communication/Arts Department at NPCC, where she teaches English and Creative Writing, will help lead a discussion as part of the celebration. She thinks that the novel’s popularity can be attributed to the universal nature of the stories it tells.
“It’s ageless,” Crane-Post said. “Most of us experience or encounter a loss of innocence, friendship, social injustice, and have both a fear and attraction to the unknown. We see our own lives within the pages of To Kill a Mockingbird. I really look forward to hearing what other people think about the book because everyone has a different reaction to it. Even a question as simple as whether you think the main character is Atticus Finch or his daughter Scout will make
you have to reevaluate your reading of the book. The great thing is that there are no wrong answers, just different perspectives.”
Wayne Bryan, who writes the “All About Tri-Lakes” column for the Tri-Lakes supplement to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, calls To Kill a Mockingbird his “favorite book in the world.” Bryan will also attend the celebration and share thoughts on the book which made for a memorable recent column. Bryan said that he has returned to the book during every decade of his life and that it bears re-reading because the book evolves as the reader does.
“We really want to make the celebration a fun experience for everyone,” Karen Covey, Circulation Supervisor at the library, said. “It’s a book that really moves people deeply, so I think we’ll have plenty to talk about. We’ve already got a few people lined up to read short passages aloud, so if anyone else would like to, please bring along your dog-eared copy and share what you love about the book.”
A flier with information on the book and the author, along with some discussion questions, is available at the library. “We’ve also thrown in some trivia questions, just for fun,” Covey said. “There are so many rich details in the novel that it makes it fun to come up with questions. People really need to read the book again so that it’s fresh in their minds. We’ve got some great prizes to give away for our To Kill a Mockingbird trivia game.”
The event will take place at the Gordonelle Williams Hall at the library. However, Covey hopes that at least for the afternoon of September 26th, the room will stand in for fictional Depression era small town of Maycomb, Alabama that Lee evokes so vividly in her novel.
“The way Lee describes Maycomb and all its residents really makes it sound like it could be any small town in the south. For those of us who have lived in one, it’s a very realistic depiction. One of our employees, Erin McKenzie, is a wonderful artist who has done some set design in the past and we’ve put her to work turning our auditorium into a mini-Maycomb,” Covey said. “She’s had some great ideas, and I can’t wait to see the finished product.”
The setting will also be evoked in the snacks selected for the celebration. “We did some research on what snack foods were popular in the 1930’s,” Covey said, “And we found out that many of them are still around. There’s a restaurant in the book called the ‘O.K. Café,’ so we’re going to have our own ‘O.K. Café’ and stock it with the types of snacks Scout and Jem might have eaten at the time.”
Since the book appeals to such a wide range of readers, from children today to those who were children or had children when it was published, Covey hopes that families might attend the event together.
“We’ve sent out letters to all the local schools and we hope that we can get a lot of young people involved. Even if they haven’t read the book yet, this would be a great chance for them to become familiar with it. And of course, we’ll watch the movie and talk about it as well,” Covey said, referring to the Academy Award winning 1962 adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.
Covey hopes the book and the celebration will spark fond memories for those who attend. “Remember sultry summer nights, rocking on the front porch swing, swatting flies and fixing the world’s problems,” she said. “Sip an ice cold R.C. Cola while we watch one of the best movies ever made. We invite everyone to find out why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
The celebration is free and open to the public. Registration is required. For more information, visit the library at 1427 Malvern Avenue, call 623-4161 or 922-4483, or go to the library’s website at http://www.garland.lib.ar.us/ .
