WebQuest to learn about the history, controversy, and author of To Kill a Mockingbird.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird WebQuest: Harper Lee, Conspiracy Theories, and Censorship

2. Go to http://www.neabigread.org/books/mockingbird/readers02.php Read the article and answer the following questions: How many plots are in this novel? What does the first plot revolve around? The second? What are two of the broad themes of To Kill a Mockingbird What line from the book ties the two stories together?

3. Go to http://tokillamockingbird.com/index.htm. Scroll down to the heading, “Monroeville, Alabama” Read the article and answer the following questions: What decade does the story told in To Kill a Mockingbird take place in? Who is the character of Dill based on?

4. Go to http://www.neabigread.org/books/mockingbird/mockingbird03.php Read the article and answer the following questions: List an important event that occurred in the 1930s. 1940s. 1950s Early 1960s Mid 1960s

5. How many novels did Harper Lee write during her lifetime? List 5 things you learned in the section, “Historical Context: The Jim Crow South.”

6. Go to http://library.thinkquest.org/12111/SG/SG5.html#author What were the Scottsboro Trials? Copy down the chart that shows the similarities between the Tom Robinson trial in To Kill a Mockingbird. Copy down the chart that shows the similarities between Scout Finch and Harper Lee.

7. Go to http://www.neabigread.org/books/mockingbird/mockingbird04.php Scroll down to the section titled, “The Friendship of Harper Lee and Truman Capote” Answer the following questions: What was Capote and Lee’s friendship like early on? Later in life after they had both become successful authors? What rumor did Capote do little to disprove?

8. Go to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5244492 Read the transcript and answer the following questions: What new evidence put an end to the rumor that To Kill a Mockingbird was actually written by Truman Capote? How did Truman Capote react to Harper Lee’s success?

9. Go to http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/books/30lee.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 Read the two page article and answer the following questions: What kind of life does Harper Lee live now? What is one of the few events that she agrees to make appearances at?

10. Go to the website: http://gilc.org/speech/osistudy/censorship/ What is the definition of censorship? Go to the website: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924691,00.html Read the essay on censorship. List 5 things you didn’t know before about censorship and books being banned in schools.