Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression and small-town Alabama Scout Finch gives us a glimpse into growing up during the 1930s. Scout lives with her dad and brother and their housekeeper Calpurnia. Scout’s dad is a lawyer who is representing an African American man who is being wrongly charged for rape. Scout also experiences fear in her neighbor because her family lives next to the supposed town crazy Boo Radley.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a Classic Novel written in 1960. It is set in Maycomb, Alabama during the early 1930s and features the main characters Jean Louise “Scout” Finch and her older brother Jeremy “Jem” Finch, children of Atticus Finch, a lawyer.
Amal Unbound is a book about a girl’s fight for education and knowing her rights. The story is a take on problems many people in real life, even today, must face. The main character is a young woman named Amal. One of the things she wants most is to have a good education, but unfortunately, she is a girl. Girls don’t have as many opportunities as boys to read and study.
The Hate You Give, by Angie Thomas, is a fiction novel about a sixteen-year-old Starr and how she becomes the only witness to the fatal shooting of her friend Khalil by the hands of the police. Throughout the story, Starr is looking for ways she can bring justice to Khalil but she does not want the public to know that she was the witness. Starr talks to the police, district attorney, and grand jury anonymously hoping that will be enough to bring justice to Khalil.
Both Sides Now by Peyton Thomas is a contemporary young adult novel that focuses on LGBTQ+ issues. Finch is about to go to the debate National Championships in Washington D.C., but the debate topic is transgender rights. Finch is a trans man that dreams of becoming the first transgender member of Congress, but his financial and emotional turmoil may keep him from his dream of Washington D.C.
This coming-of-age novel is about Steve Harmon, a sixteen-year-old teenager, who is on trial for allegedly murdering a drugstore owner during a failed robbery. He challenges the assumption that he must be a Monster because he is an African-American male on trial for murder. In order to cope and redefine his identity, he distances himself from others and journals his experiences in the form of a screenplay.
