To kill a mockingbird

Scout must mature quickly in this book. She not only has the regular pressures of growing up but must also deal with her father defending a black man in a high profile trial. White children mock her for her father's enlightened and passionate defense of the clearly innocent Tom Robinson. Scout's way of dealing with bigots and bullies is to fight. I think it is brave for her to take her father's advice and not fight. Although frustrated, she learns there is a better way to deal with ignorance. She learns how to put herself in other people's shoes: she learns patients.