Mockingbird voted best-loved novel

“To Kill a Mockingbird,” a coming-of-age story about racism and injustice, overpowered wizards and time travellers to be voted America’s best-loved novel by readers nationwide. The 1960 book by Harper Lee emerged as No. 1 in PBS’ “The Great American Read” survey, whose results were announced Tuesday on the show’s finale. More than four million votes were cast in the six-month-long contest that put 100 titles to the test. Books that were published as a series counted as a single entry. The other top-five finishers in order of votes were Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” series about a timespanning love; J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” boy wizard tales; Jane Austen’s romance “Pride and Prejudice”; and J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” fantasy saga. Turns out the contest was a “Mockingbird” runaway. “The novel started out at No. 1 on the first day of the vote, and it never wavered,” series host Meredith Vieira said. Set in the 1930s South, the book centres on attorney Finch and his young children, daughter Scout and son Jem. When Finch defends an AfricanAmerican man falsely accused of assaulting a white woman, the trial and its repercussions open Scout’s eyes to the world around her, good and bad. Besides the TV series, “The Great American Read” initiative included a 50,000-member online book club and video content across PBS platforms, Facebook and YouTube that drew more than five million views. The 100book list voted on by readers was based on an initial survey of about 7,000 Americans, with an advisory panel of experts organizing the list. Books had to have been published in English but not written in the language, and one book or series per author was allowed.