Banned Book Club: "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

One of America's most challenged novels, this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic asks what it means to do right when the world refuses to. The Banned Book Club is led by Bryn, dedicated to reading and protecting the most important and threatened books for our generation. This month, we’re reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that has become a cornerstone of American literature while remaining one of the country's most frequently challenged books. Set in the Depression-era South, the story follows Scout Finch as her father, attorney Atticus Finch, defends a Black man falsely accused of assaulting a white woman. Through Scout's eyes, readers witness the complexities of prejudice, justice, compassion, and moral courage in a deeply divided community. We will meet in person in the loft at our store at The Mark, 117 S. Pineapple Ave. The book club is $16.99, which includes a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird to be picked up at Bookstore1 any time before our meeting. HARPER LEE was born in 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama. One of America’s most celebrated and influential writers, she is the author of the acclaimed novels To Kill a Mockingbirdand Go Set a Watchman as well as the story and essay collection, The Land of SweetForever, published posthumously in 2025. Lee was awarded numerous literary awards and honors including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She died in 2016 at the age of eight-nine. ABOUT BOOK BANS: Books are under profound attack in the United States. PEN America's latest report, Banned in the USA: The Normalization of Book Banning, found that 6,870 books bans were enacted during the 2024-25 school year, across 23 states and 87 public school districts. And everywhere, it is the books that have long fought for a place on the shelf that are being targeted. Books by authors of color, by LGBTQ+ authors, by women. Books about racism, sexuality, gender, history. PEN America pushes back against censorship and the intolerance and exclusion that undergird it. Check out some frequently asked questions about book banning: https://pen.org/book-bans/book-bans-frequently-asked-questions/