Mockingbird Summer

1. General Impressions (2-3 questions)

Objective: Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

• If you have read Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, discuss how reading Mockingbird Summer has affected how you think differently about Lee’s novel. 
• Cal is framed as being “a man of his times” (277). How is Corky also a girl of her times, even as she undergoes an increased understanding of anti-racism? 

2. Personal Reflection and Connection (4-6 questions)

Objective: Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

• How has your worldview expanded after getting to know someone whose life is very different from yours? 
• What is the first historical event that you lived through where you understood its significance to something bigger than yourself? What did you realize about the world? 
• Have you ever bonded with someone over literature? What book or books brought you together? 
• Do you feel that losing innocence is wholly good or bad? What of your own experiences with coming of age inform your stance? 

3. Societal and Cultural Context (2-3 questions)

Objective: Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

• The novel takes part largely in 1964, during the Civil Rights Movement, and partially during 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Does the book indicate that there are similar social lessons to be learned from these events? If so, what are they? 
• Second wave feminism, a movement in the 1960s, is largely discussed as pertaining to women’s rights to be in the workforce. How does this novel indicate that fighting for the right to work is something that affected white women more than women of color, especially Black women? 

4. Literary Analysis (4-6 questions)

Objective: Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

• How does the decision to make the novel’s primary point-of-view character a young white girl affect Rutledge’s portrayal of racist violence? Who does the novel frame as central figures in the Civil Rights Movements, given this choice? 
• What does the novel present as the different stakes for social progress for white women Belle against stakes for Black women like Evangeline? 
• Does the novel present religious organizations as a potential site for racial justice, a place where white supremacy is upheld, or a combination of both? 
• How does Rutledge’s language show that racial justice is an ongoing project? Use examples from the sections set in 1964 and 2020 to formulate your answer. 
• Does the novel suggest that Evangeline would agree that she and Belle understand one another, or does it suggest that Belle only feels this due to her racial privilege? 
• To what extent does the novel suggest that you can or cannot make up for your mistakes? Consider Corky’s apology after shying away from America when she’s called a racist slur or her “haunting” decision to not tell her family about the strange truck in your answer. 

5. Creative Engagement (2-3 questions)

Objective: Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

• Mack becomes a history teacher. How do you think he would talk about the summer of 1964 to his students? How would he explain other historical events pertaining to racist violence, such as riots after the Rodney King incident in 1992 or George Floyd’s murder in 2020?  
• To Kill a Mockingbird, though published in 1960, is set about 30 years prior to its publication—and Corky’s coming-of-age. How do you think a book that took place in the 1990s could offer insight into modern-day social issues? What elements of history in the 1990s would be included in such a text? 
• Corky says that novels should “create a world in which you’d want to live” (282). What would your novel—and desired world—contain?

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