Harper Lee is releasing a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird, which was actually written before her famous book. This was my favorite book in this world as a kid, I must have read it a million times.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/...bird-july-180954133/

Kewl! The biographer's name is Shields!

I know a couple who when they became engaged she would not marry him until he read To Kill a Mockingbird! Great couple, celebrated their 30th anniversary last year!

Interesting item on its creation: http://www.newsweek.com/who-he...ee-mockingbird-74261

This message has been edited. Last edited by: dandelion,

The companion book/sequel of To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman, has Jean Louise "Scout" Finch visiting her father Atticus some twenty years after the Mockingbird story events. To the dismay of a majority of readers, Atticus seems to be a cantankerous old grouch ranting against Civil Rights and being far less than admirable and generally unpleasant. I am not sure I have the stomach to read the book, but wish to propose a few alternatives:

1. Dallas ripoff--Scout wakes up to find it was all a terrible dream; Atticus is not like that at all and they live happily ever after.

2. Alfred Hitchcock/Twilight Zone episode (tones of Coraline, A Wrinkle in Time, Harry Potter series): the real Atticus has been swapped with an evil replacement. Scout discovers the switch and must find and free the real Atticus and stop the replacement without letting evil Atticus know lest he stop her. Or, The Picture of Dorian Gray ripoff: in the attic is a portrait of Atticus as idealistic and virtuous and Scout must find a way to bring the living Atticus to match the portrait without accidentally destroying the real Atticus.

3. Quantum Leap/Sliders ripoff: Scout finds herself in an alternate reality. Her neighbor Miss Maudie has paved her garden, put up a parking lot, and become a hollering holy roller, Bible-thumping fundamentalist fanatic who inspires people to run at the sight of her. Boo Radley is an obnoxious standup comic, with Dill as his shady hustling manager. The Ewells are a decadent rich dynasty such as the Ewings on Dallas, running the county like Mr. Potter's version of Bedford Falls. They have ousted the honest sheriff, placed one of their corrupt spawn in his stead, and hold the citizens in an iron grip. Atticus is as described in Go Set a Watchman. African-American citizens are still poorly treated because what the heck, some things never change. Scout must traverse from one reality to another, hoping each will be the ideal one, and find a way to make it stay. Real heartbreak could ensue if Jem is alive in one of the realities, but it proves not to be the right one and Scout must leave him.

4. The Exorcist ripoff--Atticus is a genuinely nice guy all right, he is simply possessed by the devil and must be released.

5. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ripoff--both versions of Atticus are correct.

Others?

Ha, I like #2 and #4. The book is certainly problematic, even though it's a sequel, it's really a prequel, too. I read that the publishers made her re-work the story and change it all around to turn it into To Kill A Mockingbird. So, the "new" book is actually mostly a draft, our beloved book is the final version of her thought process. It seems to be something of interest to scholars, but not to the general public. I'm glad she was able to change the story into one of the best loved books in American literature.

Thanks, and how about The Bible ripoff? TKAM Atticus is New Testament God and GSAW Atticus is Old Testament God!