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Blog Post # 7 – Topics & themes & banned books, oh my!

(Hey scholars! This post is going up now for reference — you can locate the original details on our Google Classroom. I’m making sure to cross-post to keep myself in good habits. Hope you are enjoying your winter break! ~ Melly)

For our blog post this week, choose ONE of the following prompts:

Option 1 : Make your potential theme the first line of your blog post. Freewrite around the theme you are considering for your TKAM final project. Ask any questions of your fellow writers/readers that you need!

Option 2: Read this article posted yesterday by the Post Dispatch. How do you feel about our novel being banned in other districts? After reading most of the novel, do you believe it should be banned? Why or why not?


After reading your postings on this topic and watching presentations of so many TKAM themes, you’ve made up my mind on this question. I can’t get behind banning a book that brings 9th graders to observations like:

  • Racism is learned, not taught.
  • Biased judgment can rule all.
  • Innocence is the strongest power you can have.
  • Childhood innocence is eventually lost.
  • Abuse of power comes from the need to prove oneself.
  • What first meets the eye gets the judgment.
  • It is difficult to tell if other people are racist.

This is deep thinking, scholars. I’ve been so impressed with your willingness to wrestle with the tough stuff in Mockingbird on top of the unusual stress of completing your first semester of high school. That willingness tells me there’s something useful and compelling about this book — I’m so glad we had the chance to read it together, talk it out, and work it out together. (Additionally, I’m so excited for us to watch it together at the Rep next semester! Stay tuned for more details when we return on January 4th.)

Published inPre-AP ELA I

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