I would come, many years later, to understand why To Kill A Mockingbird is considered "an important novel", but when I first read it at 11, I was simply absorbed by the way it evoked the mysteries of childhood, of treasures discovered in trees, and games played with an exotic summer friend. I loved that the narrator was a girl with the marvellously un-girly name of Scout. I loved her unsentimental nature, her sharp tongue, her volubility, and her humour.