What can I say about this book that hasn’t already been said? Harper Lee’s masterpiece and only true novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, has been analyzed to death by critics and is quintessential reading for any middle school English class. How Lee manages to write with such pathos, conviction, and storytelling skill without ever having published anything before or since (I am not counting Go Set a Watchman, sorry) is, for me, the most remarkable fact about this book. Mockingbird may also be the most important social commentary about race and is of special significance given today’s bipolar, Trump-loving America.
What mostly sets To Kill a Mockingbird apart, however, is its choice of protagonists. Lee draws inspiration from her upbringing to paint a portrait of small-town life in Alabama circa the 1930s. Through the rosy, innocent lens of childhood, we learn of the evils of racism through the eyes of the book’s pubescent protagonists.
Get the whole scoop in this edition of Story Matters, where I corral/kidnap my family (wife and daughters), all of whom read the book before me (shocker!), to get their take on this well-deserved Pulitzer Prize-winning classic. Please give us a listen!!!
The Art of Storytelling 
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