. Doreen. Matthews
wonderfull book it makes you realise how much ignorance there is in the world about different races

Peggi
This book changed my life. I wanted to be Scout and when I went away to camp that summer, I changed my name to Scout. And I saw my dad as her dad, someone who stood strong against the injustices and prejudices that seemed to swirl around us in the States in the 1960s.

Hilary Paterson
I read this book about 38 years ago. I was a voracious reader and this book, along with several other rich and thoughtful books helped me to deal with living in the smug, white, hypocritical city in South East England, full of smug, white, hypocritical inhabitants.

Bev GIlder
I read this as a set book an approached it as a chore at the ripe old age of 15. It totally transformed my view of the world. Before,I had not been aware of injustice, prejudice or real suffering. It changed my view of the worlsd and started my lifelong small but determined campaign to overcome prejudice, hate and racial discrimination. These beliefs have got me into bother on more than one occassion during my life for which I have no regrets and I will continue to persue these deeply held views

Fiona Flanagan
I have read many books but none compare with To Kill a Mockingbird. The children's relationship with Arthur Radley (Boo)is so often overlooked even though it is he that Scout sees as the mockingbird. Hopefully we learn that discrimination against those with learning difficulties or mental illness is as unjust as it is for Tom Robinson. For me it is the emotion of Scout standing on the Radley porch that captures the whole message of the book.

Joan Pulman
Morality, injustice,love, understanding of your fellow man, seen through a child's eyes - Harper Lee wrote a masterpiece at a time in America when prejudice and suspicion was rife. Her book stands the test of time and I love it for all the principles that it embodies.

Sylvia Hatchell
Like every good novel this can be read and understood at various levels. From a straight "Good story" to a lesson in the ways of another world.

Jose Penrose
This book opened my eyes to so many diffent kinds of prejudice I never realised existed. I have read and reread it and recommended it to my daughters and granddaughters

Emily Howard
I recently gave this book to a dear friend as a present, and wrote inside 'The book that started my fight'. It has shaped my relationships and my attitudes so deeply since reading it for the first time aged 15. My longing and search for justice for everyone began with this book, which still makes me ache with longing at every reading.

Sabrina Friel
This is a book I enjoy as much every time I re-reada it as I did the first time. Although I have no expereience of the South of America, a southern frined tells me it is also one of his favourite books, as he can really idenify with a lot of the attitudes in it. I enjoyed Scout particularly when her aunt tried to make a "lady" out of her!

Teresa Wheeler
I read this in my early twenties and it made me realise for the first time the extent of prejudice and how the law was used against black people in the South.

Barb Emerson
This book helped a middle class North American white girl understand what racism really is. Until I read it, I wasn't aware that others considered people of darker colors "different". I just accepted that people were people, some blue-eyed, some darker complected, some Catholic, some Jewish, some tall, some thin....all varieties of the same race - the human race. When I read this book I realized that my 'world' was sheltered, and I had to get out in the 'big world' and make it a better place for everyone. I've been more aware and sensitive ever since. I hope it's made me a better member of that human race.

Soheli Hossain
I was very young when I first read it. Being a tomboy in a third world country was not easy for me. I used to get disapprovals from everywhere except from my father. He was very loving and fair towards both my brother and me. Maybe that is why I always had a deep bond with Scout. I was 9 or 10 when I first read it. At that age I did not think too much about women's issues. It was just black and white for me. I was totally absobed by the relationship between Atticus and his two children. The adventures of two brother and sister reminded me of our own. I still feel very emothional towards this novel.

Lesley Lindley
I consider To Kill a Mockingbird to be my favourite book. It never fails to touch me and the end moves me to tears. I have been reading this novel since I was 18 and at the age of 52 get as much pleasure from it as I always did. I still have the original and, by now, dog-eared copy I bought for 70p

Veronica Brown
I have read this book so often because I loves it so much and every time I do I see so much more in it. I admired the character of aticus finch. It made me think about the importance of justice. That all people have the right to life liberty and happiness. It is a vivid picture of a time and a place and an enchanting picture of childhood.

Chetan G
I found it exciting and surprising how the father brought up Scout and the kind of girl she turned out to be. Tells me if woman are to respected in society then they first should be respected at home. respect at home gives them a ground to stand on defend themselves in the society. If Scout wasnt respected at home she would have never stood for herself outside her home.

Jamey Conrad
This may well be my favourite book of all time. I have read it first when I was very young and found to my amazement my own relationship with my wonderful father expressed in that of Scout and her father. I came to realize later in life that the wordless communication and almost spiritual attachment between father and daughter that I have experienced an found expressed in the book, is the exception and not the rule. It is great to have experienced the unbiased love of fellow humans seen in lawyer Finn, in the life of my own father.

Andrea Ruddick
I read it as an early teen and I was amazed and impressed that a girl could not only have a tomboy name, behave like a boy, speak her mind and make mistakes and still be loved. It wasn't the end of the world not to be the perfect little woman, the chief cook and bottle-washer that my mother seemed to be, and I desperately didn't want to be. At a time in my life when I was just discovering boys, realising my parents weren't perfect and neither was anybody else, including myself, it played a part in my acceptance that I could be who I was, and that I didn't have to be like anyone else.

Claire Scott
As a young black woman it was my first insight into racism in America and the blatant injustice served upon black men. It is a book that I regulary revisit to refresh my memory and assess how if at all we have moved on in our attitide to racial injustice.

Trisha McQueen
I was 12 years old at the time of reading it and it taught me to never judge a person and that everyone has a heart and soul and colour of skin makes no difference

Marie-Louise Flanagan
I read this book at school. It completely changed my perceptions on life, altered my view points dramatically and led to my teenage rebellion!

Denise Harris
I found the relationship between Scout and her wonderful father to be a great comfort to me because my own father was so difficult. I'm quite sure it influenced my choice of husband on a very deep level.