‘Great American Read’ winner beloved at Ferguson Library

STAMFORD — “It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

So said Atticus Finch, understanding paternal figure to daughter and narrator Scout in the aptly named “To Kill A Mockingbird.” The sentiment is echoed by Scout’s neighbor, Miss Maudie.

But it appears the American people will keep the 1960 Harper Lee novel alive. Last week, it was named winner of PBS’ “Great American Read,” an eight-part series that explored reading through America’s 100 favorite fiction novels as chosen through a national survey.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” beat a range of titles. Included on the list were popular contemporaries (“The Hunger Games,” “Game of Thrones,” “Twilight” and “Fifty Shades of Grey”), source material for beloved films (“Jurassic Park,” “Alice in Wonderland”) and many titles undoubtedly found (or skipped) on your high school reading list like “Jane Eyre” or “Wuthering Heights.”

Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning work remained popular, despite the 2016 publication of “Go Set A Watchman,” which was promoted as an earlier draft of “Mockingbird” and re-characterized Atticus Finch as a bigot. The novel’s publication also produced speculation whether Lee, who died in 2016 at 89, was being coerced into releasing the manuscript.

According to local librarians, the contest allowed patrons to revisit those books they skipped in English class.

“Our ‘Great American Read’ displays were a great resource for patrons looking for an old favorite or something they just never got to in the past,” said Karen Danvers, adult services librarian at the Harry Bennett and Weed Hollander Memorial Branches of the Ferguson Library. “Many patrons have been watching the show and chatting with us about it. As librarians, it was fun to revisit favorites and to see newcomers make the list. I am sad to see the program end, but am happy that it helped give new life to some classics.”

Joining the frontrunners is “The Outlander” series by Diana Gabaldon at No. 2, followed by J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series, Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” series rounding out the top-five.

It’s no wonder “Mockingbird” snagged the top spot though: circulation numbers from the Ferguson Library show the novel has been in heavy rotation over the past several years. According to numbers from Alex Lee, the Ferguson’s circulation, acquisitions and cataloging supervisor, the English version of the book has been taken out 1,151 over the last three to five years. The Russian version of the novel has been taken out 25 times and the Polish language version 22 times.

Since voting for the “Great American Read” was announced in May, the English version was taken out 50 times.

“For this book, within May to October, 50 times is a lot,” Lee said.

“To Kill A Mockingbird” was also popular in Stamford in 2007 when it was named the city’s “Big Read” as part of a nationwide initiative sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Ferguson held discussions, films and performances based on the book, according to Ferguson Library President Alice Knapp.

“The Great American Read has been a wonderful way for communities to come together and talk about books,” Knapp said. “‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ which was chosen as the winner, is a classic and more timely than ever with its themes of racism and social inequality, problems we are still grappling with today.”