Practice: Reading Ch. 1-3 TKAM

It's now time to start reading the text of To Kill a Mockingbird. I have hard copies of the book and there is also an online version that you can ask your teacher about. There is also an audio version available as well. The audio version is split into chapters so for this particular assignment you will need to listen to chapters 1-3. If you do decide to use the audio I just ask that you follow along using the online version or a hard copy of the text.

For this first assignment you will need to read chapters 1-3.

In chapters 1-3, we got to know Scout, Jem, and Atticus—all through the eyes of Scout as she recounts three years of her life chronologically or in the order they happened from the age of 6 to 10. We learned that the Finch's came from a long line of ancestors who helped to settle the area in their own unique way. We see Atticus's willingness to help others when we read that he put his brother through medical school as a young lawyer. The children's preoccupation with Boo Radley shows us how they interact with each other and the kinds of things they thought and wondered about. Scout has a tough adjustment in school and wants to stay home, but Atticus won't let her. She gets into a fight and the boy, Walter Cunningham, gets invited home for lunch by Jem in chapter 3.

Walter comes from a very poor family and isn't familiar with the kind of meals Scout and Jem eat every day. When he asks for syrup and pours it all over his meal, Scout goes ballistic and tells him how dumb his is. Calpurnia calls her into the kitchen and tells her, "There's some folks who don't eat like us," she whispered fiercely, "but you ain't called on to contradict 'em at the table when they don't. That boy's yo' comp'ny and if he wants to eat up the table cloth you let him, you hear?" Scout tells Calpurina he isn't company, he's just a Cunningham and Calpurnia shoots back a quick retort.

"Hush your mouth! Don't matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house's yo' comp'ny, and don't you let me catch you remarkin' on their ways like you was so high and mighty! Yo' folks might be better'n the Cunninghams but it don't count for nothin' the way you're disgracin' 'em - if you can't act fit to eat at the table you can just set here and eat in the kitchen!"

For all of the chapters (1-16) you will be filling out a reading log (see below). Please come and discuss the requirements for the reading log before you proceed to make sure that you understand what is being asked of you. The reading log will need to be submitted after each section of reading. Assignment 010 (Reading Log Chapters 1-3)