Remember in high school when it was time to pull out "To Kill a Mockingbird?" Everyone would sigh, dig their half crushed copies out of their book bags, and cringe when the slowest reader in class volunteered to finish out the chapter. For most students, it was a decent novel, that brought with it a movie day in class.

I was not like those students.

Being a younger sibling, I got my hands on a copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird" early. I poured through the book in a few hours, and it stayed in a place of honor on my bookshelf. At least once every few months it was pulled out to be reread.

So naturally, when it was announced that over 50 years after the book was published, a “sequel” to it had been found locked away in a bank vault, I was ecstatic.

I waited for months for this book to finally be released. I went at midnight to the bookstore, stood in line with my copy pressed tightly to my chest, and went home to finish it by the time morning had come.

And after it’s all been said and done, I felt vaguely disappointed.

To start, this is the first draft version Harper Lee had given to her editors, back in the late 50’s. As a young writer, she took their advice and rewrote the entire thing when they said it might be more interesting to see the book from a child’s point of view, rather than an adult’s.

So really, it’s less of a “sequel” and more of a first-draft version.

To start with, there are a few inaccuracies that come off of this novel, if one is considering "To Kill a Mockingbird" to be the thing it spawned off of. People are added, names are deleted or spelled differently, and, perhaps the biggest shocks are that Atticus is a racist. He managed to secure an acquittal in the rape case that was the main focus of the first book.

There are some dead spots too. Some places where unnecessary descriptions drag on for ages. For example, Scout goes to speak with her Uncle, but he leads her on a runaround. The entire conversation turns into more confusion for the readers than anything.

Then there’s the plot itself, which is a bit shaky. Atticus and the young man who loves Scout are on a citizen’s council, which has been created to combat the tide of desegregation. Scout becomes upset, no longer trusting either of them. It seems a bit far-fetched.

I found myself thinking that if the Atticus from "To Kill a Mockingbird" is on this council, then there must be a reason. Why doesn’t Scout just ask him what’s going on, instead of blowing up at him? She should know her father. why doesn’t she just see what’s been happening since she’s been gone?

If you’re looking for a mention of Boo Radley, it’s missing here too.

The ending made me feel all over the place. Scout yells at her father for being on the council. Atticus defends his point of view by using really racist views, and then Scout decides to go back to New York. While she’s trying to leave, her Uncle intercepts her, slaps her,and calls her the bigot. She feels so remorseful that she goes back to pick up her father and apologizes.

Huh?

I can see what Harper Lee was trying to aim at when writing this novel. As an early draft, her writing is there, while the plot and characters haven’t been developed enough yet. She was trying to stitch together a novel using the reactions to the Civil Rights in the heart of Alabama, with a young woman travelling back to her town to see things from a newer point of view.

The only thing I could take away from this book is Scout’s unsure feelings of where she fits in. She’s old enough to understand what’s going on around her, and sees the world in which she grew up as changing, almost overnight.

Scout is forced to face the fact that she’s not that eight year old girl in overalls anymore. She’s a woman, and the world is a big, confusing place.

In all, I would say to buy this book, but do so cautiously. It’s less of a sequel and more a part of the writing process...a first draft. We get to see how our favorite characters moved from words on the page, to real people.

For a young writer, it’s an invaluable chance to see how award-winning novels take time, going through many stages, but eventually they become a staple in every high school classroom.