Brian Stratmann Jr.

This is one of those old long novels I was "forced" to read a few years ago in middle school. I took one look at the cover and thought, "how do you write 300 pages on killing a stupid bird?". Well, I was very wrong. The second I picked the book up, I literally could not put it down. The storyline is great--a mysterious neighbor, a racist attempt to ruin a poor man's life, a riveting trial, and fearing a vengeful neighbor. This book displays love, revenge, trial, humor, and victory. Unlike other stories from its general era, it is written very precisely, no useless facts, organized, and engrossing. I have never enjoyed a "classic" book ever like I have this masterpiece.

All I have to say is this...what the heck is going on??? This book is a jumbled up heap of facts that are arranged in a sloppy and confusing manner. I mean, maybe Robert's papers got out of order at some point, which would explain this book. But I give 5 stars to cliff notes, which helped me not fail the test on this book I had to take.

This book is actually the biggest wasted 2 hours of my life. I had to read this for 7th grade, and it is NOT age appropriate. I understand this was written by anne frank so she does have complete freedom to speak her mind, and I do not criticize that. But why, of all people, did HER diary have to get published? Most people view this book much differently, but through the eyes of a junior high boy it is just terrible.

This book is terrible. It is weird, cringe, and dark. The facts are all jumbled up and there is too much going on for me to handle. If you HAVE to read this, I recommend cliff notes. They actually make sense of this mess.