Most authors write several books before they become famous, but Not Harper Lee. Her very first book, called To Kill a Mockingbird, sold so many copies — and the book made Miss Lee so famous — that she never had to write another one.
Almost nobody was more surprised by her success than Harper Lee herself. She said, “I never expected any sort of success with To Kill a Mockingbird. I just hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement.”
Harper Lee’s story proves that good things can happen even when we’re not expecting them. So we might as well hope for the best, work for the best, and expect the best. That’s what it means to be optimistic. It’s a smart way to think and a great way to live.
Fun Facts
Fun Fact: Harper Lee’s full name was Nelle Harper Lee, but when she published To Kill a Mockingbird, she decide to drop her first name because she thought people might mistakenly call her “Nellie.”
Fun Fact: In 1999, To Kill a Mockingbird was voted “Best novel of the Century” in a poll by the Library Journal.
Fun Fact: An editor is a person who helps a writer by making corrections or suggestions. Harper Lee’s editor, a woman named Tay Hohoff, helped Harper Lee make To Kill a Mockingbird a great book.
Fun Fact: While she was writing the book, Harper Lee wasn’t always pleased with her progress. In fact, she once grabbed her typed pages and threw them out the window. Then she called her editor in tears. The editor told Harper to “march out outside and pick those pages up!” And it’s a good thing she did!
Fun Fact: During her lifetime, Harper Lee gave very few interviews, and she never completed another book after To Kill a Mockingbird. Another Harper Lee novel, Go Set a Watchman, was written in the 1950’s and published in 2015. But it was later determined that Go Set a Watchman was actually a very early version of To Kill a Mockingbird.
Be Optimistic!
“A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities; an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.”
Harry Truman
“Find the good. It’s all around you. Find it, showcase it, and you’ll start believing in it.”
Jesse Owens
“Optimism is that faith that leads to achievement.”
Helen Keller
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Harper Lee Timeline
1926: Nelle Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama.
1944: Harper Lee graduated from high school.
1944 -1948: Lee attended college but did not complete a degree at the University of Alabama.
1949: Lee moved to New York and took a job as an airline reservation agent. She wrote fiction in her spare time.
1956: Lee found an agent who would represent her as an author.
1960: Lee’s first and only original novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, was published. The book became an instant hit, and it continues to be a bestseller. To Kill a Mockingbird has sold over 30,000,000 copies, and it’s still considered an American classic.
2015: An earlier version of To Kill a Mockingbird was published. The newly published book is called Go Set a Watchman. Because of the popularity of To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman also become an instant bestseller. But it was also a source of some controversy, especially when readers discovered that it was, in fact, an earlier version of Lee’s original novel.
2016: Harper Lee died in Monroeville, Alabama at the age of 89.