“When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem broke his arm at the elbow.”

The first line of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was written more than half a century ago,  but with sales reaching 40 million copies worldwide it continues to be known as one of the most cherished novels in history. To Kill a Mockingbird remained Lee’s only novel: until now.

At age 88, Lee has finally revealed to her millions of fans that before writing To Kill a Mockingbird in the 1950’s, she wrote another story that tells of an older Atticus Finch and his grown daughter Scout in their fictional hometown of Maycomb, Alabama. Lee’s publisher recently announced that her new novel Go Set a Watchman is set to be released July 2015.

Many fans were surprised by Lee’s announcement to publish Go Set a Watchman since the announcement occurred soon after the death of Lee’s lawyer and sister Alice Lee, who was known to be her “protector from public scrutiny”, according to newyorktimes.com. This factor has many people questioning Lee’s desire to publish the book and mixed feelings on whether or not they will choose to read it, including English teacher Lauren Deal.

“Some news reports indicate that her current attorney may not have her best interests at heart, and that Harper Lee may not have been fully cognizant of what she was agreeing to when she contracted to publish this book,” Deal said. “So that makes me hesitant to read this, since it’s possible that the author may not have actually wanted for this book to be published.”

Although others were surprised by Lee’s decision to publish Go Set a Watchman, they are thrilled at the chance to read another one of her novels.

“I personally feel that it was the success with her first novel that made her not want to publish a second,” English teacher Christy May said. “In fact, it is rumored that her attorney discovered the completed novel last year and convinced the 88 year old Lee to publish.  She is a very reclusive and private person, much like the Radley family in To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Almost all students are required to read To Kill a Mockingbird sometime throughout their high school career and most students at FFHS read the novel during their freshmen year. Although, with the implementation of the Book Whisperers program this year, which allows students to select their own books from a variety of genres, many students may choose not to read To Kill a Mockingbird.

“I don’t require it with my current freshman classes the way I would have before doing Book Whisperers,” Deal said. “However, one of the Book Whisperers requirements is to read from a variety of genres, including ‘classic fiction,’ and several of my freshmen have chosen To Kill a Mockingbird to fulfill that genre requirement.  It does make me happy to see students choosing to read it, because it’s obviously a really awesome classic novel.”

Freshman Vanessa Vazquez-Castro chose to read To Kill a Mockingbird as part of Book Whisperers and has her own view on Lee’s recent announcement to publish Go Set a Watchmen.

“I was very surprised when I heard she was publishing a new novel. Reading articles about this, I do believe too that she was pressured into publishing her new novel. I read that she had said a while back that she wasn’t going to publish any more books after To Kill A Mockingbird, and now says she is humiliated by this controversy,” Vasquez-Castro said. “Maybe it will be a good thing to publish this novel, but I think it would have been better for her to decide on her own what to do with it. After all, she does have the final decision to make.”

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