To Kill a Mockingbird

The cover of the version i have

My dad wanted me to study in Mandarin school, while my mum was more fond of English education. She even told me once that it would be ideal to have one kid (my elder brother) studying in Mandarin School, and another kid to 'tak ang moh chek' (study in English-medium school,in hokkien). My dad was adamant though, and in the end mum relented, sending me to Sum Sun Primary School.

Sek Ren is short for Sekolah Rendah, Primary School in Malay. The centre of the flower contains  the characters 三山  which means three hills literally, and where the name anglicised Sum Sun was derived from. 

I wonder how different my life would chart its paths had mum persisted. 

Lang Tengah, a pristine island resort adjacent to Redang. Could be where the founders were inspired to call my school Sum Sun, heh. What if there were only 2 peaks? Twin peaks sounds awfully female....

Anyway i had digressed, rather severely. All i wanted to say was that being brought up in a Mandarin language school my exposure to English classics was really wanting. I was totally absorbed in Enid Blyton's Secret Seven, Famous Five etc when i was in primary school, but those weren't the classics that i meant.

Reading 'To Kill a Mockingbird' was such a pure joy for me. I wouldn't even try to describe how beautiful the book is; just read it if you haven't. 

'Shoot all the bluejays ceejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird'  

-To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

Beautiful, isn't it?