# To Kill a Mockingbird

**Author:** Harper Lee
**Lexile:** 870L
**Grade range:** Grades 7–10
**Age range:** 12–17
**First published:** 1960
**Page count:** 281
**Genre:** Literary Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9780060935467`
**ISBN-10:** `0060935464`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/to-kill-a-mockingbird
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Set in the Depression-era South, the novel follows Scout Finch, a young girl whose father Atticus, a lawyer, defends a Black man falsely accused of assaulting a white woman. Through Scout's narration, the book examines racism, moral conscience, and childhood perception. It remains one of the most widely assigned novels in US high schools and a frequent subject of curriculum debate.

## Themes

- racial injustice
- moral courage
- childhood innocence
- justice
- coming of age
- small-town South

## Content notes

- racial slurs (historical context)
- sexual assault (discussed, not depicted)
- violence

Common Sense Media age recommendation: 12+

## Where this book is assigned

### AP English Literature & Composition

- **recommended** · 11th grade — [source: AP Lit Course and Exam Description — representative text list](https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-english-literature-and-composition)

### Common Core State Standards (ELA)

- **recommended** · 9th grade — [source: Common Core aligned summer-reading list — rising 9th grade](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)
- **recommended** · 9th grade — [source: CCSS ELA Appendix B, grades 9-10 exemplar](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)
- **recommended** · 9th grade · California — [source: CA CCSS ELA aligned reading](https://www.cde.ca.gov/)
- **recommended** · 9th grade · Florida — [source: B.E.S.T. Standards aligned reading](https://www.fldoe.org/)
- **recommended** · 9th grade · Texas — [source: HISD English I core text](https://www.houstonisd.org/curriculum)
- **recommended** · 9th grade · Texas — [source: TEKS English II frequently taught text](https://tea.texas.gov/)

## Banned / challenged record

Documented removals or formal challenges in at least one school district in 4 states: FL, MS, MO, VA. Source: [PEN America's Index of School Book Bans](https://pen.org/banned-book-list/) 2022-2024.

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