To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
A girl in 1930s Alabama watches her father defend a Black man falsely accused of a crime. A humane, enduring novel about justice and empathy. Read the full description
Best for: Readers of any age new to American classics
To Kill a Mockingbird is #26 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 74 out of 100.
To Kill a Mockingbird: reading interest over the past 12 months
Sources: Open Library’s public reading-log and ratings data (dump of 2026-08-31), Wikipedia page views and Wikidata. Monthly counts are exact; they show relative interest among readers of these public sources, not total readership.
Ranked against the other books on this list, To Kill a Mockingbird’s reading interest has run from #13 to #37 over these 12 months. Interest rank blends shelf adds, Wikipedia page views and rating activity, each compared with the other 99 books that month.
Shelf adds by month
To Kill a Mockingbird was added to Open Library readers’ shelves 827 times in the past 12 months, peaking in October 2025 with 124 (80% above its monthly average of 69). Over the latest three months (Jun 2026 to Aug 2026) shelf adds were down 11% on the three months before. 85% of the adds were “want to read”, 5% “currently reading” and 9% “already read”.
Want to read Currently reading Already read
Wikipedia page views
Its Wikipedia article was viewed 1,147,322 times in the past 12 months, peaking in September 2025 with 133,683 views. The latest three months were down 15% on the three before.
Source: Wikimedia monthly page views for the article To Kill a Mockingbird.
Awards and honours listed on Wikidata: Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
What the data says about To Kill a Mockingbird
- Moderate swings. Monthly shelf adds averaged 69 with some ups and downs.
- Busiest and quietest months. October 2025 was its busiest month (124 adds), about 3.1 times its quietest, August 2026 (40).
- Attention and shelf adds move together. Months with more Wikipedia views for To Kill a Mockingbird were also months with more shelf adds (correlation 0.70), which suggests the same events, such as new editions, adaptations or social media, drive both.
- Against its genre. It had 10% fewer shelf adds than the average Classics book on this list.
- Share of the list. It accounts for 0.8% of all shelf adds recorded for the Top 100 over these 12 months, #43 of 100.
- Its age. First published in 1960 (66 years ago), it is older than 81% of the books on the list.
Each finding is computed from the public data above and shown only when the numbers support it.
To Kill a Mockingbird on the Top 100: rank history
First charted in September 2026. The chart gains a point with every monthly update, so its peak, climbs and falls will show here as they happen.
| Month | Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | #26 | 74 |
Is To Kill a Mockingbird rising or falling?
Cooling It ranks lower this week than over the past year, so interest is softening from its recent level.
On Open Library, To Kill a Mockingbird ranks #51 this week, #44 this month, and #50 over the past year. A longer bar means a higher position. Comparing the three windows shows whether readers are arriving faster than the book's long-term pace. Readings as of 2026-09-30.
Why To Kill a Mockingbird made the Top 100
To Kill a Mockingbird made the list mainly on momentum (+28.4 points) and being read right now (+21.1 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+0.2). The BookWard Score blends five public signals, each scored from 0 to 100 and weighted as shown.
The reading-now, rating and rank signals come from Open Library’s public data, not from BookWard’s own readers. The score measures reading interest, not quality or sales. How the score works.
Open Library reader stats for To Kill a Mockingbird
Source: Open Library public reading logs, as of 2026-09-30. BookWard’s own monthly snapshots are added to the picture, and anonymous BookWard reader data will be layered in as the community grows.
More readers have To Kill a Mockingbird open right now than 73% of the other books on this list. These counts come from one public source, so they show relative interest rather than total readership.
Where it sits among Classics books
It is #5 of the 11 Classics books on this month’s list.
About To Kill a Mockingbird
A girl in 1930s Alabama watches her father defend a Black man falsely accused of a crime. A humane, enduring novel about justice and empathy.
Why it’s here: It is taught widely, and that keeps generations of readers rediscovering it.
Best for: Readers of any age new to American classics
At a glance
- First published
- 1960-07-11
- Genre
- Classics
- Also described as
- Bildungsroman, Southern Gothic, social fiction
- Length
- about 320 pages (the median across its editions)
- Original language
- English
- Languages
- editions in 14 languages listed on Open Library
- Editions
- 213 on Open Library
- Setting
- Alabama, Southern United States
- Characters listed
- Jean Louise Finch, Jeremy Finch, Dill, Arthur Radley, Judge Taylor
- Awards and honours
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
From Open Library and Wikidata public records. Missing rows mean the records do not list that fact.
Themes
- Racial injustice
- Moral courage
- Childhood in the American South
What reading it is like
Warm, observant narration through a child's eyes that turns serious.
At about 320 pages it is a longer read: roughly 6 hours at an average reading pace (about 250 words a minute, 300 words a page). Audiobook and edition lengths vary.
Good to know
Contains racial slurs and depictions of racism and a rape accusation. Widely taught and sometimes debated.
The premise
Scout Finch grows up in 1930s Alabama, watching her father, lawyer Atticus Finch, defend a Black man falsely accused of a crime. The story is told through her curious, childlike eyes.
What you’ll get
- A humane story about justice
- Memorable characters
- Accessible, moving prose
You might skip it if you dislike heavy themes of racism.
Pairs well with: The Outsiders · The Kite Runner
Keep exploring the chart
Also on the chart at #25 and #27
Questions about To Kill a Mockingbird
What rank is To Kill a Mockingbird on the Top 100 books?
To Kill a Mockingbird is #26 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 74 out of 100.
Is To Kill a Mockingbird rising or falling?
Cooling. It ranks lower this week than over the past year, so interest is softening from its recent level. On Open Library, To Kill a Mockingbird ranks #51 this week, #44 this month, and #50 over the past year.
Why is To Kill a Mockingbird on the Top 100?
To Kill a Mockingbird made the list mainly on momentum (+28.4 points) and being read right now (+21.1 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+0.2).
How many people are reading To Kill a Mockingbird right now?
Open Library's reading logs show 427 readers currently reading To Kill a Mockingbird, 5,501 who want to read it and 470 who have logged it as read (as of 2026-09-30). These are counts from one public source, not all readers.
How much interest has To Kill a Mockingbird had over the past year?
827 Open Library shelf adds in the past 12 months (peak October 2025, 124); latest three months down 11% on the prior three; 1,147,322 Wikipedia views in the past 12 months (down 15% over the latest three months). Figures come from Open Library and Wikipedia public data.
Who is To Kill a Mockingbird best for?
Readers of any age new to American classics.
Ask a question about To Kill a Mockingbird
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How we know
This page is built from public data: Open Library’s dated reading-log and ratings dumps, Wikipedia page views, Wikidata, and BookWard’s own monthly Top 100 snapshots. The interest rank blends shelf adds (45%), Wikipedia page views (30%), rating activity (10%) and, for months where a snapshot exists, BookWard’s own score (15%), each as a percentile among the Top 100 books. Every month shown is real data; nothing is estimated. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Last updated September 2026. Read the full methodology.
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