Open your copy of To Kill a Mockingbird to Chapter 1. Read only the first two paragraphs and STOP when you finish reading the line, “making Boo Radley come out."

1. In the first two paragraphs we learn that the narrator of our story has an older brother, Jem, who is four years older.
2. We learn that Jem breaks his arm at the elbow.
3. We learn there is a connection of some sort to the Ewells and to someone named, Dill.
4. There is mystery which intensifies when we learn the three children, Jem, the narrator, and Dill, try to make someone named, Boo Radley, come out.

Harper Lee’s novel is a framed story with one story developing within the frame of another story. Somehow, we will wonder what Scout, the narrator, and Dill, the neighbor, have in common with the Ewells and Boo Radley. Even the name Boo suggests mystery. We will begin our novel with Part One, the first frame story.

Another factor we must take into consideration is the fact that even though Harper Lee changed the name of her town from Monroeville, Alabama to Maycomb, the location of homes is quite accurate to those in her real hometown of Monroeville. Granted, there are some new families and the names of actual families are different, but as we progress through the novel, we will examine each family closely to discover their association to Harper Lee. How can we come up with such a picture?

Skip a couple of pages in your novel and continue reading when you find the paragraph that begins, “Maycomb was an old town," and read until the end of Chapter 1, noting characters and where they live as you meet them in the chapter. If the copy of the novel you are reading belongs to you, personally, you may want to make your annotations in the margin. If the novel is not yours, take notes in your notebook as you read.

I trust Lee's hook lured you to the next chapter. Continue to read and to make annotations as you read Chapter 2.

As teachers, we hope you will continue to read the novel throughout, but in case you prefer to read a summary of this next chapter, we have included one.

After Scout tries to explain to the teacher why Walter does not have lunch money in Chapter 2, Scout has become frustrated with Walter for what she sees as getting her in trouble. When Miss Caroline Fisher, the school teacher, releases the students for lunch, Scout immediately starts a fight with Walter. Jem breaks up the fight and invites Walter to come home with them for lunch knowing he has nothing to eat. Once at the house, Atticus sparks up a conversation at the dinner table about hunting to make Walter feel comfortable. Scout criticizes Walter for his table manners and gets a scolding from Calpurnia for her rude behavior towards Walter.

Once the children are back at school, Miss Fisher is terrified of a “cootie" (louse) she sees in Burris Ewell’s hair. Miss Fisher sends Burris home to wash his hair. When he is leaving, he screams obscenities at her and makes her cry. The students explain to Miss Fisher that the Ewell children only come on the first day of school because the state requires their names to be on school roster. The students try to comfort Miss Fisher because she is upset over Burris.

On the way home from school, Scout finds two pieces of gum in the knothole of the tree on the edge of the Radley lot. Within a few days, Scout and Jem find two pennies in the knothole. Neither knows who is putting the items in the tree.

School releases for summer, and both Scout and Jem are looking forward to Dill’s arrival to Maycomb. Once Dill arrives, they start coming up with games to play to occupy them for the summer. One of the games they play requires Scout to get inside of a tire and be rolled around in the yard and street. With a good push by Jem who happens to be angry with her at the time, Scout finds herself in the Radley yard. This gives Jem the idea of playing a game of pretending to be The Radleys. Atticus sees the children playing the game when he arrives home from work and tells them they are not to play the game any longer. Scout wants to mind her father, but Jem thinks they can continue to play the game without getting caught. Scout thinks she heard someone laughing inside the Radley house the day she rolls into their yard.

Scout begins to spend more time with neighbor, Miss Maudie Atkinson. Scout, being very curious about The Radleys, asks Miss Maudie about them. Miss Maudie explains the Radleys are strict Baptists and that is why they stay inside away from others.

Dill and Jem develop a plan to give Boo Radley a note. They ask Scout to help with the plan, and she agrees. Dill and Scout are on look out for Atticus while Jem puts the note on the end of a pole to try to slip it in the window of the Radley house. Atticus catches the children in their mischief and tells them to quit harassing the Radleys. Atticus realizes they mean no harm and are curious, so he has yet to scold them too harshly.

If you are reading something and cannot understand it, it may be that you do not understand the idioms. This is an especially common problem for a newcomer to a language. For example, across the globe we talk about how hard it is raining, but various countries have idioms associated with hard rain. In America we say it is raining cats and dogs. Africans use the idiom that it is raining old women with clubs. For Norway a downpour suggests it is raining female trolls. Finally, in Ireland it’s raining cobblers, shoemakers, with knives. Idioms are phrases with meaning that do not fit exactly the definitions of the words in them.

Let’s practice by reading the following paragraph:

Joe is a cool dude. He never loses it or gets mad, and he knows how to get his way. He is getting on in years and his face is a road map, but whenever he tuckers out, he takes it easy until he is back in shape. He takes care of himself, and handling things is a breeze for him.

Although you would not turn in this paragraph as part of an essay, many speakers of English talk like this when they are speaking to each other. Here is a more formal way of writing the paragraph.

Joe is a calm person. He never loses control of his emotions or becomes angry, and he knows how to get what he wants. He is getting old and his face is wrinkled, but when he gets tired, he rests until he feels well again. He follows good health practices, and he is easily able to do what he needs to do.

To Kill a Mockingbird contains many idioms, regional in nature to the South. Here are a few that you will encounter throughout the novel.