To Kill A Mockingbird—

Newtown Invited To Read Harper Lee Classic

By Nancy K. Crevier

Following the announcement Thursday evening, March 1, of the 2007 NewtownREADS book selection, there was a flurry of activity about town on Friday as volunteers handed out more than 1,000 copies of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Stationed at local businesses, library volunteers gave away books, pins, and bookmarks to any local resident wishing to take part in the townwide reading program. Two thousand copies of the novel were made available through the generosity of the C.H. Booth Friends of the Library, said librarian Kim Weber, one of the main organizers of the event.

NewtownREADS is an offshoot of the “One Book” communitywide reading programs initiated by the Washington Center for the Book in 1998. This is the second time that Newtown has participated in this community-reading event, the first time having been in 2003, when Newtown read April Morning by Howard Fast. The Revolutionary War theme of that book coincided nicely with the town’s celebration of its 300th anniversary that year.

To Kill A Mockingbird was selected, said Ms Weber, because although the book was published in 1960, the story is set in 1932, the same year that the C.H. Booth Library was built. There are many similarities between the sleepy Alabama town in which the story is set to that of 1932 Newtown, she said.

The focal point of the novel is when one of Maycomb, Alabama’s most distinguished citizens and lawyers, Atticus Finch, steps forward to defend a black man accused of the rape of a white woman. The story is told through the eyes of one of Finch’s two motherless children, and focuses on life in that small southern town and the reactions provoked by Finch’s defense.

To Kill A Mockingbird won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into a 1962 Academy Award-winning movie starring Gregory Peck.

One of the other attractive attributes of this particular novel as a NewtownREADS selection, said Ms Weber, is that it lends itself to exciting follow-up events. Several book discussions are scheduled this spring, beginning with one at Starbucks on Church Hill Road at 1 pm on March 15. On March 20, Mocha Coffee House will host a 10 am discussion lead by Julie Stern, adjunct professor at WCSU. Ms Stern has a degree in philosophy, and an MA in English Literature.

Young adults will want to read Mississippi Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe to take part in the book discussion April 4 at 4 pm at the library with young adult librarian Margaret Brown. This book was chosen as a young adult companion book to the NewtownREADS selection.

On April 10, at 1 pm, former Trumbull High School teacher Gordon Williams will lead a book discussion at the Newtown Senior Center on Riverside Road. The discussion is open to the public, not just members of the center.

Joanne Greco Rochman will be the discussion leader on April 24, at 7:30 pm, at the C.H. Booth Library. Ms Rochman is an award-winning editor, columnist, and feature storywriter. She is currently the managing editor of Theatre CT and an adjunct professor of English at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield and Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport. This discussion will integrate current events, such as the Tillman case here in Connecticut.

Tom Mahoney of Edmond Town Hall Theatre scoured the country to find a copy of the 1962 film To Kill A Mockingbird that is in the correct format for the theater’s projector. His success means that Newtown residents will have the opportunity to view the movie on March 29 at 2 and 7 pm for a charge of $2. Professor emeritus Jack Leopold of WCSU, a film historian, will give an introduction about the film and will lead a postmovie discussion at the evening performance only.

Other NewtownREADS events that residents can look forward to include an April 26 author talk by Charles Shields at Newtown High School and a mock trial theatrical performance on Saturday, April 28, at the Meeting House on Main Street. Only 190 tickets are being sold at the library for the performance. Tickets cost $5 for the matinee that day and $10 for the evening performance that includes a Southern-style buffet reception.

The library staff is excited about the NewtownREADS program, one of many events scheduled to celebrate the 75th anniversary this year of the C.H. Booth Library.

Free copies of To Kill A Mockingbird are still available at The Drug Center on Church Hill Road, the Newtown Senior Center on Riverside Road, and at the library. Readers are asked to pass the book along to other interested residents, or to return the books to the library.