Sequel to beloved ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ released decades later

LYNNWOOD — Like millions of other students across the land, Barbara Wade first read the Harper Lee classic “To Kill A Mockingbird” in school.

It was only when the Lynnwood woman revisited it as an adult that the richness of the storytelling took root.

She grew enamored by the best-selling tale of 1930s life in the Deep South as told by a precocious tomboy named Scout.

“It’s my favorite book and movie,” Wade said.

So much so that she named her cat Atticus Finch after the narrator’s father, a gentleman lawyer seeking justice for a black man accused of rape.

So much so that she and a friend drove to Monroeville, Alabama, the small town of Lee’s youth and inspiration for fictional Maycomb.

So much so that Wade stood outside a Barnes &Noble bookstore in Lynnwood before 7 a.m. Tuesday so she could buy a copy of Lee’s second novel “Go Set A Watchman.” The new work — first shown to an editor in the 1950s — was written before “To Kill A Mockingbird,” which was published in 1960.

For Wade and many others, the release brings a mix of eagerness and trepidation, particularly when it comes to Atticus Finch, who is portrayed as the community’s conscience in “To Kill A Mockingbird.”

In the new book, the character is portrayed as an aging racist.

Wade vows to keep an open mind.

“If you take it for what it is — a piece of literature written prior to ‘Mockingbird’ and it was her first attempt — you may view it differently than if she wrote it after ‘Mockingbird,’ ” Wade said.

The book has generated plenty of interest.

The publisher, HarperCollins, has printed more than 2 million copies. Amazon reported it has the most preorders since 2007 when J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was released. Barnes &Noble’s Lynnwood store alone had 200 preorders.

Carol Hartman Davis, a manager at the store, reread “To Kill A Mockingbird” in April and watched the movie again in May. She’d also been following media reports leading up to the release. On Monday, there was a read-a-thon of “To Kill A Mockingbird” at the store.

“My emotions have been all over the place,” she said. “Then I read the first chapter and I was really excited.”

As of Tuesday morning, the Sno-Isle Libraries system had 702 reservations for the work in print and audio forms. The requests ranged from teens to readers in their 90s. Nearly 75 percent are from people age 50 and older.

“We think that it will likely take about two (to) three months for the books to make their way through the reservation list and onto library shelves for in-library customers to find,” Sno-Isle spokesman Ken Harvey said.

Two days shy of the due date for her second child, Alicia Nygard waited with her mom, Dawn Steinruck, for Barnes &Noble to open. They were among the first 20 customers and received a free “To Kill A Mockingbird” tote bag and cup of coffee.

Nygard is an English teacher at Cavelero Mid-High School in Lake Stevens. “To Kill A Mockingbird,” which won a Pulitzer Prize for literature, has been a powerful teaching tool on many levels over the years, she said.

She is interested in comparing Scout’s perceptions of her father 20 years apart.

“He is the model character and father (in ‘Mockingbird’),” she said. “He teaches the children right from wrong. It’s Scout as an adult (in ‘Watchman’). She is going to have a different vision of her dad as an adult. It will be hard. We all have this image of him in our minds.”

Melanie Boaz, a recently retired English teacher who lives in Mukilteo, read the first four chapters by early Tuesday afternoon. So far, so good, she said.

“I think that it is always unfair to impose current views of society, current political correctness, backwards,” she said. “I don’t think it is fair to impose everything we may believe today on writers in earlier times.”

Deirdre Campbell, of Mukilteo, last read “To Kill A Mockingbird” 35 years ago when she was in high school. Her children, both still in their teens, read it at Kamiak High School. She figures it will make the rounds.

“My plan is to pass it around to everyone in the family,” she said. “I am going to try to read it first.”

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.

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