Answer: autobiography

Context: Lee has said that To Kill a Mockingbird is not an autobiography, but rather an example of how an author "should write about what he knows and write truthfully". Nevertheless, several people and events from Lee's childhood parallel those of the fictional Scout. Lee's father, Amasa Coleman Lee, was an attorney, similar to Atticus Finch, and in 1919, he defended two black men accused of murder. After they were convicted, hanged and mutilated, he never tried another criminal case. Lee's father was also the editor and publisher of the Monroeville newspaper. Although more of a proponent of racial segregation than Atticus, he gradually became more liberal in his later years. Though Scout's mother died when she was a baby, Lee was 25 when her mother, Frances Cunningham Finch, died. Lee's mother was prone to a nervous condition that rendered her mentally and emotionally absent. Lee had a brother named Edwin, who—like the fictional Jem—was four years older than his sister. As in the novel, a black housekeeper came daily to care for the Lee house and family.

Question: Harper Lee has stated that To Kill a Mockingbird is not what genre of book?


Answer: 1919

Question: What year did Harper Lee's father represent two black men accused of murder?


Answer: 25

Question: At what age did Harper Lee's mother die?


Answer: editor and publisher

Question: What titles did Lee's father maintain at the local newspaper?


Answer: next door

Context: Lee modeled the character of Dill on her childhood friend, Truman Capote, known then as Truman Persons. Just as Dill lived next door to Scout during the summer, Capote lived next door to Lee with his aunts while his mother visited New York City. Like Dill, Capote had an impressive imagination and a gift for fascinating stories. Both Lee and Capote were atypical children: both loved to read. Lee was a scrappy tomboy who was quick to fight, but Capote was ridiculed for his advanced vocabulary and lisp. She and Capote made up and acted out stories they wrote on an old Underwood typewriter Lee's father gave them. They became good friends when both felt alienated from their peers; Capote called the two of them "apart people". In 1960, Capote and Lee traveled to Kansas together to investigate the multiple murders that were the basis for Capote's nonfiction novel In Cold Blood.

Question: Where did Truman Capote live in relation to Lee?


Answer: 1960

Question: What year did Lee and Capote go to Kansas together?


Answer: In Cold Blood

Question: Murders were the base for which story that Capote wrote?


Answer: Truman Capote

Question: Who was the character Dill modeled after?


Answer: old Underwood typewriter

Question: What did Lee and Capote write their childhood stories on?


Answer: apart people

Question: What term did Capote use to describe Lee and himself?


Answer: 10

Context: The origin of Tom Robinson is less clear, although many have speculated that his character was inspired by several models. When Lee was 10 years old, a white woman near Monroeville accused a black man named Walter Lett of raping her. The story and the trial were covered by her father's newspaper which reported that Lett was convicted and sentenced to death. After a series of letters appeared claiming Lett had been falsely accused, his sentence was commuted to life in prison. He died there of tuberculosis in 1937. Scholars believe that Robinson's difficulties reflect the notorious case of the Scottsboro Boys, in which nine black men were convicted of raping two white women on negligible evidence. However, in 2005, Lee stated that she had in mind something less sensational, although the Scottsboro case served "the same purpose" to display Southern prejudices. Emmett Till, a black teenager who was murdered for flirting with a white woman in Mississippi in 1955, and whose death is credited as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement, is also considered a model for Tom Robinson.

Question: At what age was Lee when a white woman accused a black guy of rape?


Answer: Walter Lett

Question: What was the name of the black man who was accused of rape in Lee's town when she was 10?


Answer: Emmett Till

Question: What was the name of the black teenager that Tom Robinson was supposedly based on?


Answer: Civil Rights Movement

Question: Emmett Till's death sparked which political movement in the '50s?


Answer: display Southern prejudices

Question: What purpose did Tom Robinson's trial serve in the book?


Answer: Emmett Till

Question: Who's death was a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement?


Answer: Satire and irony

Context: Writing about Lee's style and use of humor in a tragic story, scholar Jacqueline Tavernier-Courbin states: "Laughter ... [exposes] the gangrene under the beautiful surface but also by demeaning it; one can hardly ... be controlled by what one is able to laugh at." Scout's precocious observations about her neighbors and behavior inspire National Endowment of the Arts director David Kipen to call her "hysterically funny". To address complex issues, however, Tavernier-Courbin notes that Lee uses parody, satire, and irony effectively by using a child's perspective. After Dill promises to marry her, then spends too much time with Jem, Scout reasons the best way to get him to pay attention to her is to beat him up, which she does several times. Scout's first day in school is a satirical treatment of education; her teacher says she must undo the damage Atticus has wrought in teaching her to read and write, and forbids Atticus from teaching her further. Lee treats the most unfunny situations with irony, however, as Jem and Scout try to understand how Maycomb embraces racism and still tries sincerely to remain a decent society. Satire and irony are used to such an extent that Tavernier-Courbin suggests one interpretation for the book's title: Lee is doing the mocking—of education, the justice system, and her own society by using them as subjects of her humorous disapproval.

Question: What two forms of humor are most found in To Kill a Mockingbird?


Answer: parody, satire, and irony

Question: Lee uses which writing styles to express humor in a tragic story?


Answer: church basement

Context: Critics also note the entertaining methods used to drive the plot. When Atticus is out of town, Jem locks a Sunday school classmate in the church basement with the furnace during a game of Shadrach. This prompts their black housekeeper Calpurnia to escort Scout and Jem to her church, which allows the children a glimpse into her personal life, as well as Tom Robinson's. Scout falls asleep during the Halloween pageant and makes a tardy entrance onstage, causing the audience to laugh uproariously. She is so distracted and embarrassed that she prefers to go home in her ham costume, which saves her life.

Question: Where does Jem trap a fellow peer of school in the story?


Answer: Calpurnia

Question: What is the name of the maid who works in the Finch's household?


Answer: distracted and embarrassed

Question: How does Scout respond to the audience?


Answer: ham costume

Question: What saves Scout's life?


Answer: Southern Gothic and coming-of-age or Bildungsroman novel

Context: Scholars have characterized To Kill a Mockingbird as both a Southern Gothic and coming-of-age or Bildungsroman novel. The grotesque and near-supernatural qualities of Boo Radley and his house, and the element of racial injustice involving Tom Robinson contribute to the aura of the Gothic in the novel. Lee used the term "Gothic" to describe the architecture of Maycomb's courthouse and in regard to Dill's exaggeratedly morbid performances as Boo Radley. Outsiders are also an important element of Southern Gothic texts and Scout and Jem's questions about the hierarchy in the town cause scholars to compare the novel to Catcher in the Rye and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Despite challenging the town's systems, Scout reveres Atticus as an authority above all others, because he believes that following one's conscience is the highest priority, even when the result is social ostracism. However, scholars debate about the Southern Gothic classification, noting that Boo Radley is in fact human, protective, and benevolent. Furthermore, in addressing themes such as alcoholism, incest, rape, and racial violence, Lee wrote about her small town realistically rather than melodramatically. She portrays the problems of individual characters as universal underlying issues in every society.

Question: What genre of book is To Kill a Mockingbird typically called?


Answer: Gothic

Question: What term did Lee use to describe the town's courthouse?


Answer: Atticus

Question: Who does Scout revere above everyone else?


Answer: Miss Maudie

Context: As children coming of age, Scout and Jem face hard realities and learn from them. Lee seems to examine Jem's sense of loss about how his neighbors have disappointed him more than Scout's. Jem says to their neighbor Miss Maudie the day after the trial, "It's like bein' a caterpillar wrapped in a cocoon ... I always thought Maycomb folks were the best folks in the world, least that's what they seemed like". This leads him to struggle with understanding the separations of race and class. Just as the novel is an illustration of the changes Jem faces, it is also an exploration of the realities Scout must face as an atypical girl on the verge of womanhood. As one scholar writes, "To Kill a Mockingbird can be read as a feminist Bildungsroman, for Scout emerges from her childhood experiences with a clear sense of her place in her community and an awareness of her potential power as the woman she will one day be."

Question: What was the name of the neighbor that Jem speaks too after Tom Robinson's trial?


Answer: separations of race and class

Question: What des Jem struggle to understand?


Answer: 1955

Context: The second part of the novel deals with what book reviewer Harding LeMay termed "the spirit-corroding shame of the civilized white Southerner in the treatment of the Negro". In the years following its release, many reviewers considered To Kill a Mockingbird a novel primarily concerned with race relations. Claudia Durst Johnson considers it "reasonable to believe" that the novel was shaped by two events involving racial issues in Alabama: Rosa Parks' refusal to yield her seat on a city bus to a white person, which sparked the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the 1956 riots at the University of Alabama after Autherine Lucy and Polly Myers were admitted (Myers eventually withdrew her application and Lucy was expelled, but reinstated in 1980). In writing about the historical context of the novel's construction, two other literary scholars remark: "To Kill a Mockingbird was written and published amidst the most significant and conflict-ridden social change in the South since the Civil War and Reconstruction. Inevitably, despite its mid-1930s setting, the story told from the perspective of the 1950s voices the conflicts, tensions, and fears induced by this transition."

Question: When did the Montgomery Bus Boycott take place?


Answer: race relations

Question: Many reviewers consider the second part of the book to be about what issue?


Answer: white

Context: Scholar Patrick Chura, who suggests Emmett Till was a model for Tom Robinson, enumerates the injustices endured by the fictional Tom that Till also faced. Chura notes the icon of the black rapist causing harm to the representation of the "mythologized vulnerable and sacred Southern womanhood". Any transgressions by black males that merely hinted at sexual contact with white females during the time the novel was set often resulted in a punishment of death for the accused. Tom Robinson's trial was juried by poor white farmers who convicted him despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence, as more educated and moderate white townspeople supported the jury's decision. Furthermore, the victim of racial injustice in To Kill a Mockingbird was physically impaired, which made him unable to commit the act he was accused of, but also crippled him in other ways. Roslyn Siegel includes Tom Robinson as an example of the recurring motif among white Southern writers of the black man as "stupid, pathetic, defenseless, and dependent upon the fair dealing of the whites, rather than his own intelligence to save him". Although Tom is spared from being lynched, he is killed with excessive violence during an attempted escape from prison, shot seventeen times.

Question: The main jurors in Tom Robinson's trial were all which race?


Answer: shot seventeen times

Question: How did Tom Robinson die in the novel?


Answer: death

Question: At the time of the novel's setting, what punishment was often received by black males for percieved sexual contact with a white woman?


Answer: poor white farmers

Question: Who comprised Tom's jury?


Answer: seventeen

Question: How many times was Tom shot?


Answer: a rabid dog

Context: The theme of racial injustice appears symbolically in the novel as well. For example, Atticus must shoot a rabid dog, even though it is not his job to do so. Carolyn Jones argues that the dog represents prejudice within the town of Maycomb, and Atticus, who waits on a deserted street to shoot the dog, must fight against the town's racism without help from other white citizens. He is also alone when he faces a group intending to lynch Tom Robinson and once more in the courthouse during Tom's trial. Lee even uses dreamlike imagery from the mad dog incident to describe some of the courtroom scenes. Jones writes, "[t]he real mad dog in Maycomb is the racism that denies the humanity of Tom Robinson .... When Atticus makes his summation to the jury, he literally bares himself to the jury's and the town's anger."

Question: Atticus is tasked with killing what animal in the novel?


Answer: fight against the town's racism

Question: What is Atticus shooting the rabid dog symbolic of?


Answer: Calpurnia

Context: In a 1964 interview, Lee remarked that her aspiration was "to be ... the Jane Austen of South Alabama." Both Austen and Lee challenged the social status quo and valued individual worth over social standing. When Scout embarrasses her poorer classmate, Walter Cunningham, at the Finch home one day, Calpurnia, their black cook, chastises and punishes her for doing so. Atticus respects Calpurnia's judgment, and later in the book even stands up to his sister, the formidable Aunt Alexandra, when she strongly suggests they fire Calpurnia. One writer notes that Scout, "in Austenian fashion", satirizes women with whom she does not wish to identify. Literary critic Jean Blackall lists the priorities shared by the two authors: "affirmation of order in society, obedience, courtesy, and respect for the individual without regard for status".

Question: Who does the cooking at the Finch's house?


Answer: Aunt Alexandra

Question: Who is Atticus Finch's sibling?


Answer: Walter Cunningham

Question: Who does Scout Tease and humiliate at their house?


Answer: Jane Austen

Question: Which author did Lee aspire to be like?


Answer: individual worth

Question: Both authors valued what over social standing?


Answer: poor

Context: Scholars argue that Lee's approach to class and race was more complex "than ascribing racial prejudice primarily to 'poor white trash' ... Lee demonstrates how issues of gender and class intensify prejudice, silence the voices that might challenge the existing order, and greatly complicate many Americans' conception of the causes of racism and segregation." Lee's use of the middle-class narrative voice is a literary device that allows an intimacy with the reader, regardless of class or cultural background, and fosters a sense of nostalgia. Sharing Scout and Jem's perspective, the reader is allowed to engage in relationships with the conservative antebellum Mrs. Dubose; the lower-class Ewells, and the Cunninghams who are equally poor but behave in vastly different ways; the wealthy but ostracized Mr. Dolphus Raymond; and Calpurnia and other members of the black community. The children internalize Atticus' admonition not to judge someone until they have walked around in that person's skin, gaining a greater understanding of people's motives and behavior.

Question: Are the Ewell's considered rich or poor?


Answer: gender and class

Question: What two factors did Lee demonstrate intensified prejudice?


Answer: people's motives and behavior

Question: The children's non-judgmental attitude gave them a greater understanding of what?


Answer: morphine

Context: The novel has been noted for its poignant exploration of different forms of courage. Scout's impulsive inclination to fight students who insult Atticus reflects her attempt to stand up for him and defend him. Atticus is the moral center of the novel, however, and he teaches Jem one of the most significant lessons of courage. In a statement that foreshadows Atticus' motivation for defending Tom Robinson and describes Mrs. Dubose, who is determined to break herself of a morphine addiction, Atticus tells Jem that courage is "when you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what".

Question: Mrs. Dubose suffers from an addiction to what?


Answer: Atticus

Question: Who is the moral center of the novel?


Answer: courage

Question: The novel explores various forms of what trait?


Answer: Charles Shields

Context: Charles Shields, who has written the only book-length biography of Harper Lee to date, offers the reason for the novel's enduring popularity and impact is that "its lessons of human dignity and respect for others remain fundamental and universal". Atticus' lesson to Scout that "you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you climb around in his skin and walk around in it" exemplifies his compassion. She ponders the comment when listening to Mayella Ewell's testimony. When Mayella reacts with confusion to Atticus' question if she has any friends, Scout offers that she must be lonelier than Boo Radley. Having walked Boo home after he saves their lives, Scout stands on the Radley porch and considers the events of the previous three years from Boo's perspective. One writer remarks, "... [w]hile the novel concerns tragedy and injustice, heartache and loss, it also carries with it a strong sense [of] courage, compassion, and an awareness of history to be better human beings."

Question: Who has written the only biography of Harper Lee?


Answer: Charles Shields

Question: Who wrote the only book length- biography of Harper Lee?


Answer: human dignity and respect for others

Question: According to Shields, which of the books lessons are fundamental and universal?


Answer: Mayella Ewell

Question: Who does Scout think could be lonelier than Boo Radley?


Answer: Calpurnia and Miss Maudie

Context: Just as Lee explores Jem's development in coming to grips with a racist and unjust society, Scout realizes what being female means, and several female characters influence her development. Scout's primary identification with her father and older brother allows her to describe the variety and depth of female characters in the novel both as one of them and as an outsider. Scout's primary female models are Calpurnia and her neighbor Miss Maudie, both of whom are strong willed, independent, and protective. Mayella Ewell also has an influence; Scout watches her destroy an innocent man in order to hide her desire for him. The female characters who comment the most on Scout's lack of willingness to adhere to a more feminine role are also those who promote the most racist and classist points of view. For example, Mrs. Dubose chastises Scout for not wearing a dress and camisole, and indicates she is ruining the family name by not doing so, in addition to insulting Atticus' intentions to defend Tom Robinson. By balancing the masculine influences of Atticus and Jem with the feminine influences of Calpurnia and Miss Maudie, one scholar writes, "Lee gradually demonstrates that Scout is becoming a feminist in the South, for with the use of first-person narration, she indicates that Scout/ Jean Louise still maintains the ambivalence about being a Southern lady she possessed as a child."

Question: Who are the main female role models for Scout during the story?


Answer: Calpurnia and Miss Maudie

Question: Who are Scout's two primary female models?


Answer: Mrs. Dubose

Question: Who chastis Scout for the way she dresse and accuses her of ruining her family name?


Answer: feminist

Question: Tomboy Scout grows up tto become what?


Answer: Bob Ewell

Context: Absent mothers and abusive fathers are another theme in the novel. Scout and Jem's mother died before Scout could remember her, Mayella's mother is dead, and Mrs. Radley is silent about Boo's confinement to the house. Apart from Atticus, the fathers described are abusers. Bob Ewell, it is hinted, molested his daughter, and Mr. Radley imprisons his son in his house until Boo is remembered only as a phantom. Bob Ewell and Mr. Radley represent a form of masculinity that Atticus does not, and the novel suggests that such men as well as the traditionally feminine hypocrites at the Missionary Society can lead society astray. Atticus stands apart as a unique model of masculinity; as one scholar explains: "It is the job of real men who embody the traditional masculine qualities of heroic individualism, bravery, and an unshrinking knowledge of and dedication to social justice and morality, to set the society straight."

Question: In the book, which character was expected of molesting their child?


Answer: Atticus

Question: Who was the only non-abusive father mentioned?


Answer: Dolphus Raymond

Context: Allusions to legal issues in To Kill a Mockingbird, particularly in scenes outside of the courtroom, has drawn the attention from legal scholars. Claudia Durst Johnson writes that "a greater volume of critical readings has been amassed by two legal scholars in law journals than by all the literary scholars in literary journals". The opening quote by the 19th-century essayist Charles Lamb reads: "Lawyers, I suppose, were children once." Johnson notes that even in Scout and Jem's childhood world, compromises and treaties are struck with each other by spitting on one's palm and laws are discussed by Atticus and his children: is it right that Bob Ewell hunts and traps out of season? Many social codes are broken by people in symbolic courtrooms: Mr. Dolphus Raymond has been exiled by society for taking a black woman as his common-law wife and having interracial children; Mayella Ewell is beaten by her father in punishment for kissing Tom Robinson; by being turned into a non-person, Boo Radley receives a punishment far greater than any court could have given him. Scout repeatedly breaks codes and laws and reacts to her punishment for them. For example, she refuses to wear frilly clothes, saying that Aunt Alexandra's "fanatical" attempts to place her in them made her feel "a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on [her]". Johnson states, "[t]he novel is a study of how Jem and Scout begin to perceive the complexity of social codes and how the configuration of relationships dictated by or set off by those codes fails or nurtures the inhabitants of (their) small worlds."

Question: Which character is chastised in the book for marrying a black woman?


Answer: Lawyers

Question: Who does Charles Lamb speculate were once children?


Answer: frilly clothes

Question: What is another name for Scout's pink cotton penitentiary?


Answer: Songbirds

Context: Songbirds and their associated symbolism appear throughout the novel. The family's last name of Finch also shares Lee's mother's maiden name. The titular mockingbird is a key motif of this theme, which first appears when Atticus, having given his children air-rifles for Christmas, allows their Uncle Jack to teach them to shoot. Atticus warns them that, although they can "shoot all the bluejays they want", they must remember that "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird". Confused, Scout approaches her neighbor Miss Maudie, who explains that mockingbirds never harm other living creatures. She points out that mockingbirds simply provide pleasure with their songs, saying, "They don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us." Writer Edwin Bruell summarized the symbolism when he wrote in 1964, "'To kill a mockingbird' is to kill that which is innocent and harmless—like Tom Robinson." Scholars have noted that Lee often returns to the mockingbird theme when trying to make a moral point.

Question: Which animal serves as a symbol throughout the book?


Answer: Finch

Question: Harper Lee's mother's maiden name was what?


Answer: mockingbird

Question: Which bird does Atticus Finch say is a "sin to kill?"


Answer: mockingbird

Question: According to Atticus, which bird is it a sin to shoot?


Answer: mockingbird

Question: According to Miss Maudie, which bird is never harmful?


Answer: that which is innocent and harmless

Question: Symbolically, killing a mockingbird is killing what according to Edwin Bruell?


Answer: Book of the Month Club

Context: Despite her editors' warnings that the book might not sell well, it quickly became a sensation, bringing acclaim to Lee in literary circles, in her hometown of Monroeville, and throughout Alabama. The book went through numerous subsequent printings and became widely available through its inclusion in the Book of the Month Club and editions released by Reader's Digest Condensed Books.

Question: Reader's Digest included To Kill a Mockingbird in what program of theirs?


Answer: Book of the Month Club

Question: The book's availablity increased through inclusion in what book service?


Answer: ten

Context: One year after its publication To Kill a Mockingbird had been translated into ten languages. In the years since, it has sold more than 30 million copies and been translated into more than 40 languages. The novel has never been out of print in hardcover or paperback, and has become part of the standard literature curriculum. A 2008 survey of secondary books read by students between grades 9–12 in the U.S. indicates the novel is the most widely read book in these grades. A 1991 survey by the Book of the Month Club and the Library of Congress Center for the Book found that To Kill a Mockingbird was rated behind only the Bible in books that are "most often cited as making a difference".[note 1] It is considered by some to be the Great American Novel.

Question: After one year when To Kill a Mockingbird first came out, how many languages has it been printed in?


Answer: 40

Question: Up til today, how many languages has To Kill a Mockingbird been printed in?


Answer: 30 million

Question: How many copies has To Kill a Mockingbird sold since it first came out?


Answer: more than 30 million

Question: How many copies of the book have been sold?


Answer: more than 40

Question: How many languages has the book been translated into?


Answer: Scout, Atticus, and Boo

Context: Many writers compare their perceptions of To Kill a Mockingbird as adults with when they first read it as children. Mary McDonagh Murphy interviewed celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Rosanne Cash, Tom Brokaw, and Harper's sister Alice Lee, who read the novel and compiled their impressions of it as children and adults into a book titled Scout, Atticus, and Boo.

Question: Public figure's impressions of the novel were formed into a book called what?


Answer: Alice Lee

Question: Who was Harper Lee's sister?


Answer: Scout, Atticus, and Boo

Question: What book compiled Adults' impressions and their impressions as children about the novel?


Answer: lawyer

Context: One of the most significant impacts To Kill a Mockingbird has had is Atticus Finch's model of integrity for the legal profession. As scholar Alice Petry explains, "Atticus has become something of a folk hero in legal circles and is treated almost as if he were an actual person." Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center cites Atticus Finch as the reason he became a lawyer, and Richard Matsch, the federal judge who presided over the Timothy McVeigh trial, counts Atticus as a major judicial influence. One law professor at the University of Notre Dame stated that the most influential textbook he taught from was To Kill a Mockingbird, and an article in the Michigan Law Review claims, "No real-life lawyer has done more for the self-image or public perception of the legal profession," before questioning whether, "Atticus Finch is a paragon of honor or an especially slick hired gun".

Question: Atticus Finch's integrity has become a model for which job?


Answer: integrity

Question: Atticus Finch is a model of what for legal professionals?


Answer: 1997

Context: In 1992, an Alabama editorial called for the death of Atticus, saying that as liberal as Atticus was, he still worked within a system of institutionalized racism and sexism and should not be revered. The editorial sparked a flurry of responses from attorneys who entered the profession because of him and esteemed him as a hero. Critics of Atticus maintain he is morally ambiguous and does not use his legal skills to challenge the racist status quo in Maycomb. However, in 1997, the Alabama State Bar erected a monument to Atticus in Monroeville, marking his existence as the "first commemorative milestone in the state's judicial history". In 2008, Lee herself received an honorary special membership to the Alabama State Bar for creating Atticus who "has become the personification of the exemplary lawyer in serving the legal needs of the poor".

Question: What year was a statue of Atticus build in Alabama?


Answer: Alabama State Bar

Question: Harper Lee was given a membership to what in 2008?


Answer: honorary special membership

Question: What did the Alabama State Bar bestow on Lee in 2008?


Answer: 1963

Context: To Kill a Mockingbird has been a source of significant controversy since its being the subject of classroom study as early as 1963. The book's racial slurs, profanity, and frank discussion of rape have led people to challenge its appropriateness in libraries and classrooms across the United States. The American Library Association reported that To Kill a Mockingbird was number 21 of the 100 most frequently challenged books of 2000–2009.

Question: To Kill a Mockingbird was first studied in American schools in what year?


Answer: 21

Question: The American Library Associated ranked To Kill a Mockingbird where on its most frequently challenged books of 2000-2009?


Answer: 1963

Question: In what year did the book become a subject of classroom study?


Answer: 21

Question: According to The American Library Association, what rank did the book have among the most frequently challenged books from 2000 to 2009?


Answer: 1966

Context: One of the first incidents of the book being challenged was in Hanover, Virginia, in 1966: a parent protested that the use of rape as a plot device was immoral. Johnson cites examples of letters to local newspapers, which ranged from amusement to fury; those letters expressing the most outrage, however, complained about Mayella Ewell's attraction to Tom Robinson over the depictions of rape. Upon learning the school administrators were holding hearings to decide the book's appropriateness for the classroom, Harper Lee sent $10 to The Richmond News Leader suggesting it to be used toward the enrollment of "the Hanover County School Board in any first grade of its choice". The National Education Association in 1968 placed the novel second on a list of books receiving the most complaints from private organizations—after Little Black Sambo.

Question: When was the first major controversy that surfaced from the book?


Answer: rape

Question: What event in the novel was heavily criticized for being a plot device?


Answer: Mayella Ewell's attraction to Tom Robinson

Question: In letters to local newspapers, what subplot in the book received the most complaints?


Answer: Little Black Sambo

Question: According to the National Education Association, what was the only book to receive more complaints in 1968?


Answer: civil rights movement

Context: The novel is cited as a factor in the success of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, however, in that it "arrived at the right moment to help the South and the nation grapple with the racial tensions (of) the accelerating civil rights movement". Its publication is so closely associated with the Civil Rights Movement that many studies of the book and biographies of Harper Lee include descriptions of important moments in the movement, despite the fact that she had no direct involvement in any of them. Civil Rights leader Andrew Young comments that part of the book's effectiveness is that it "inspires hope in the midst of chaos and confusion" and by using racial epithets portrays the reality of the times in which it was set. Young views the novel as "an act of humanity" in showing the possibility of people rising above their prejudices. Alabama author Mark Childress compares it to the impact of Uncle Tom's Cabin, a book that is popularly implicated in starting the U.S. Civil War. Childress states the novel "gives white Southerners a way to understand the racism that they've been brought up with and to find another way. And most white people in the South were good people. Most white people in the South were not throwing bombs and causing havoc ... I think the book really helped them come to understand what was wrong with the system in the way that any number of treatises could never do, because it was popular art, because it was told from a child's point of view."

Question: What movement in the '60s did the novel help spark?


Answer: Uncle Tom's Cabin

Question: Which book was credited with sparking the US Civil War?


Answer: Uncle Tom's Cabin

Question: What other book did Mark Childress compare it to?


Answer: Archulus Persons

Context: Lee's childhood friend, author Truman Capote, wrote on the dust jacket of the first edition, "Someone rare has written this very fine first novel: a writer with the liveliest sense of life, and the warmest, most authentic sense of humor. A touching book; and so funny, so likeable." This comment has been construed to suggest that Capote wrote the book or edited it heavily. In 2003, a Tuscaloosa newspaper quoted Capote's biological father, Archulus Persons, as claiming that Capote had written "almost all" of the book. In 2006, a Capote letter was donated to Monroeville's literary heritage museum; in a letter to a neighbor in Monroeville in 1959, Capote mentioned that Lee was writing a book that was to be published soon. Extensive notes between Lee and her editor at Lippincott also refute the rumor of Capote's authorship. Lee's older sister, Alice, responded to the rumor, saying: "That's the biggest lie ever told."

Question: Who was Truman Capote's father?


Answer: Truman Capote

Question: Who was speculated to have wrote the book instead of Harper Lee?


Answer: Alice

Question: What was the name of Harper Lee's sister?


Answer: Truman Capote

Question: Who was rumored to have written the book instead of Lee?


Answer: her editor

Question: Lee's notes to whom help disclaim this rumor?


Answer: 1961

Context: During the years immediately following the novel's publication, Harper Lee enjoyed the attention its popularity garnered her, granting interviews, visiting schools, and attending events honoring the book. In 1961, when To Kill a Mockingbird was in its 41st week on the bestseller list, it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, stunning Lee. It also won the Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews in the same year, and the Paperback of the Year award from Bestsellers magazine in 1962. Starting in 1964, Lee began to turn down interviews, complaining that the questions were monotonous, and grew concerned that attention she received bordered on the kind of publicity celebrities sought. Since the, she declined talking with reporters about the book. She also steadfastly refused to provide an introduction, writing in 1995: "Introductions inhibit pleasure, they kill the joy of anticipation, they frustrate curiosity. The only good thing about Introductions is that in some cases they delay the dose to come. Mockingbird still says what it has to say; it has managed to survive the years without preamble."

Question: Which year did To Kill a Mockingbird win the Pulitzer Prize?


Answer: 41

Question: How many weeks did To Kill a Mockingbird remain on the bestsellers list when it won the Pulitzer Prize?


Answer: 1962

Question: Paperback of the Year award from Bestsellers magazine was awarded when?


Answer: 1964

Question: When did Harper Lee begin refusing interviews and questions about the book?


Answer: the Pulitzer Prize

Question: What major award did the book receive in 1961?


Answer: 1964

Question: In what year did Lee stop giving interviews about the book?


Answer: 2001

Context: In 2001, Lee was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor. In the same year, Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley initiated a reading program throughout the city's libraries, and chose his favorite book, To Kill a Mockingbird, as the first title of the One City, One Book program. Lee declared that "there is no greater honor the novel could receive". By 2004, the novel had been chosen by 25 communities for variations of the citywide reading program, more than any other novel. David Kipen of the National Endowment of the Arts, who supervised The Big Read, states "people just seem to connect with it. It dredges up things in their own lives, their interactions across racial lines, legal encounters, and childhood. It's just this skeleton key to so many different parts of people's lives, and they cherish it."

Question: Which year was Lee awarded an induction into the Alabama Academy of Honor?


Answer: 25

Question: In 2004, the novel as been picked by how many communities for citywide reading programs more than any other book?


Answer: Chicago

Question: In 2001, what city's mayor picked To Kill a Mockingbird as their favorite book?


Answer: Chicago

Question: Which city's mayor initiated a reading program with the book?


Answer: 25

Question: By 2004, how many communities were using the book as part of their reading programs?


Answer: University of Notre Dame

Context: In 2006, Lee was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Notre Dame. During the ceremony, the students and audience gave Lee a standing ovation, and the entire graduating class held up copies of To Kill a Mockingbird to honor her.[note 5] Lee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 5, 2007 by President George W. Bush. In his remarks, Bush stated, "One reason To Kill a Mockingbird succeeded is the wise and kind heart of the author, which comes through on every page ... To Kill a Mockingbird has influenced the character of our country for the better. It's been a gift to the entire world. As a model of good writing and humane sensibility, this book will be read and studied forever."

Question: Which school granted Lee an honory doctorate in 2006?


Answer: George W. Bush

Question: Which president of the US awarded Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom?


Answer: 2007

Question: When did Lee receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom?


Answer: Notre Dame

Question: What university awarded Lee an honorary doctorate in 2006?


Answer: George W. Bush

Question: In 2007, which president awarded Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom?


Answer: 1962

Context: The book was made into the well-received 1962 film with the same title, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. The film's producer, Alan J. Pakula, remembered Universal Pictures executives questioning him about a potential script: "They said, 'What story do you plan to tell for the film?' I said, 'Have you read the book?' They said, 'Yes.' I said, 'That's the story.'" The movie was a hit at the box office, quickly grossing more than $20 million from a $2-million budget. It won three Oscars: Best Actor for Gregory Peck, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium for Horton Foote. It was nominated for five more Oscars including Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Mary Badham, the actress who played Scout.

Question: A movie adaptation of the book was released in what year?


Answer: Gregory Peck

Question: Who played Atticus Finch in the 1962 movie of the same title?


Answer: Gregory Peck

Question: Which actor received An Oscar for his role of Atticus Finch in the 1962 movie of the book?


Answer: father's pocketwatch

Context: Harper Lee was pleased with the movie, saying: "In that film the man and the part met... I've had many, many offers to turn it into musicals, into TV or stage plays, but I've always refused. That film was a work of art." Peck met Lee's father, the model for Atticus, before the filming. Lee's father died before the film's release, and Lee was so impressed with Peck's performance that she gave him her father's pocketwatch, which he had with him the evening he was awarded the Oscar for best actor. Years later, he was reluctant to tell Lee that the watch was stolen out of his luggage in London Heathrow Airport. When Peck eventually did tell Lee, he said she responded, "'Well, it's only a watch.' Harper—she feels deeply, but she's not a sentimental person about things." Lee and Peck shared a friendship long after the movie was made. Peck's grandson was named "Harper" in her honor.

Question: What item did Lee give the actor Gregory Peck after portraying Atticus Finch?


Answer: grandson

Question: Which one of Gregory Peck's relatives was named after Harper Lee?


Answer: her father's pocketwatch

Question: What personal effect did Lee give to Peck?


Answer: grandson

Question: Which one of Peck's relatives was named Harper in honor of Lee?


Answer: May 2005

Context: In May 2005, Lee made an uncharacteristic appearance at the Los Angeles Public Library at the request of Peck's widow Veronique, who said of Lee: "She's like a national treasure. She's someone who has made a difference...with this book. The book is still as strong as it ever was, and so is the film. All the kids in the United States read this book and see the film in the seventh and eighth grades and write papers and essays. My husband used to get thousands and thousands of letters from teachers who would send them to him."

Question: When did Lee randomly show up at the Los Angeles Public Library?


Answer: a national treasure

Question: What did Peck's widow call Lee?


Answer: Christopher Sergel

Context: The book has also been adapted as a play by Christopher Sergel. It debuted in 1990 in Monroeville, a town that labels itself "The Literary Capital of Alabama". The play runs every May on the county courthouse grounds and townspeople make up the cast. White male audience members are chosen at the intermission to make up the jury. During the courtroom scene the production moves into the Monroe County Courthouse and the audience is racially segregated. Author Albert Murray said of the relationship of the town to the novel (and the annual performance): "It becomes part of the town ritual, like the religious underpinning of Mardi Gras. With the whole town crowded around the actual courthouse, it's part of a central, civic education—what Monroeville aspires to be."

Question: Who turned the novel into a play?


Answer: 1990

Question: When was the play for To Kill a Mockingbird first performed?


Answer: Monroeville

Question: What town labeled itself "The Literary Capital of Alabama"?


Answer: townspeople

Question: Who makes up the cast of the annual play based on the book performed in Monroeville?


Answer: racially segregated

Question: During the courtroom scene, what happens to the audience?


Answer: the UK

Context: Sergel's play toured in the UK starting at West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds in 2006, and again in 2011 starting at the York Theatre Royal, both productions featuring Duncan Preston as Atticus Finch. The play also opened the 2013 season at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London where it played to full houses and starred Robert Sean Leonard as Atticus Finch, his first London appearance in 22 years. The production is returning to the venue to close the 2014 season, prior to a UK Tour.

Question: What country did Sergel's play tour around in and perform in 2006?


Answer: Regent's Park Open Air Theatre

Question: The play was the opening act for the starting of the 2013 season at which location?


Answer: Duncan Preston

Question: Who played Atticus Finch in the UK theater productions of the film in 2006 and 2011?


Answer: July 14, 2015

Context: An earlier draft of To Kill a Mockingbird, titled Go Set a Watchman, was controversially released on July 14, 2015. This draft, which was completed in 1957, is set 20 years after the time period depicted in To Kill a Mockingbird but is not a continuation of the narrative. This earlier version of the story follows an adult Scout Finch who travels from New York to visit her father, Atticus Finch, in Maycomb, Alabama, where she is confronted by the intolerance in her community. The Watchman manuscript was believed to have been lost until Lee's lawyer Tonja Carter discovered it; although this claim has been widely disputed. Watchman contains early versions of many of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird. According to Lee's agent Andrew Nurnberg, Mockingbird was originally intended to be the first book of a trilogy: "They discussed publishing Mockingbird first, Watchman last, and a shorter connecting novel between the two." This assertion has been discredited however by the rare books expert James S. Jaffe, who reviewed the pages at the request of Lee's attorney and found them to be only another draft of "To Kill a Mockingbird". The statement was also contrary to Jonathan Mahler's description of how "Watchman" was seen as just the first draft of "Mockingbird". Instances where many passages overlap between the two books, in some case word for word, also refutes this assertion.

Question: When was Go Set a Watchman introduced to the public?


Answer: 1957

Question: Go Set a Watchman was finished in what year?


Answer: 20

Question: How many years after To Kill a Mockingbird is the setting of Go Set A Watchman?


Answer: Tonja Carter

Question: Who was Harper Lee's lawyer?


Answer: Go Set a Watchman

Question: What is the earlier draft of the book titled?


Answer: 1957

Question: What year was Watchman completed?


Answer: 20

Question: How many years after Mockingbird was Watchman set?


Answer: rape and racial inequality

Context: The novel is renowned for its warmth and humor, despite dealing with the serious issues of rape and racial inequality. The narrator's father, Atticus Finch, has served as a moral hero for many readers and as a model of integrity for lawyers. One critic explains the novel's impact by writing, "In the twentieth century, To Kill a Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its protagonist, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism."

Question: What two serious moral issues are dealt with in the novel?


Answer: Atticus Finch

Question: Who is the protagonist of the novel?


Answer: narration

Context: The strongest element of style noted by critics and reviewers is Lee's talent for narration, which in an early review in Time was called "tactile brilliance". Writing a decade later, another scholar noted, "Harper Lee has a remarkable gift of story-telling. Her art is visual, and with cinematographic fluidity and subtlety we see a scene melting into another scene without jolts of transition." Lee combines the narrator's voice of a child observing her surroundings with a grown woman's reflecting on her childhood, using the ambiguity of this voice combined with the narrative technique of flashback to play intricately with perspectives. This narrative method allows Lee to tell a "delightfully deceptive" story that mixes the simplicity of childhood observation with adult situations complicated by hidden motivations and unquestioned tradition. However, at times the blending causes reviewers to question Scout's preternatural vocabulary and depth of understanding. Both Harding LeMay and the novelist and literary critic Granville Hicks expressed doubt that children as sheltered as Scout and Jem could understand the complexities and horrors involved in the trial for Tom Robinson's life.

Question: What is Lee's strongest style of writing?


Answer: flashback

Question: What narrative technique does Lee use to combine the adult's perspective with the child's observations??


Answer: all Southerners

Context: Harper Lee has remained famously detached from interpreting the novel since the mid-1960s. However, she gave some insight into her themes when, in a rare letter to the editor, she wrote in response to the passionate reaction her book caused: "Surely it is plain to the simplest intelligence that To Kill a Mockingbird spells out in words of seldom more than two syllables a code of honor and conduct, Christian in its ethic, that is the heritage of all Southerners."

Question: According to Lee, her book simply expressed a Christian code of honor and conduct inherit to whom?


Answer: the neighborhood

Context: When the book was released, reviewers noted that it was divided into two parts, and opinion was mixed about Lee's ability to connect them. The first part of the novel concerns the children's fascination with Boo Radley and their feelings of safety and comfort in the neighborhood. Reviewers were generally charmed by Scout and Jem's observations of their quirky neighbors. One writer was so impressed by Lee's detailed explanations of the people of Maycomb that he categorized the book as Southern romantic regionalism. This sentimentalism can be seen in Lee's representation of the Southern caste system to explain almost every character's behavior in the novel. Scout's Aunt Alexandra attributes Maycomb's inhabitants' faults and advantages to genealogy (families that have gambling streaks and drinking streaks), and the narrator sets the action and characters amid a finely detailed background of the Finch family history and the history of Maycomb. This regionalist theme is further reflected in Mayella Ewell's apparent powerlessness to admit her advances toward Tom Robinson, and Scout's definition of "fine folks" being people with good sense who do the best they can with what they have. The South itself, with its traditions and taboos, seems to drive the plot more than the characters.

Question: Besides the children's fascination with Boo, the first part of the book was concerned about their feelings for what?


Answer: Southern romantic regionalism

Question: Lee's detailed explanations of the characters' behaviors caused one writer to catagorize the book as what?


Answer: fine folks

Question: Scout defined people doing the best they could with what they had as who?


Answer: The South itself

Question: What drives the plot of the book more than the characters?


Answer: Tom Robinson

Context: Tom Robinson is the chief example among several innocents destroyed carelessly or deliberately throughout the novel. However, scholar Christopher Metress connects the mockingbird to Boo Radley: "Instead of wanting to exploit Boo for her own fun (as she does in the beginning of the novel by putting on gothic plays about his history), Scout comes to see him as a 'mockingbird'—that is, as someone with an inner goodness that must be cherished." The last pages of the book illustrate this as Scout relates the moral of a story Atticus has been reading to her, and in allusions to both Boo Radley and Tom Robinson states about a character who was misunderstood, "when they finally saw him, why he hadn't done any of those things ... Atticus, he was real nice," to which he responds, "Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them."

Question: Who is the main example of an innocent destroyed in the novel?


Answer: Boo Radley

Question: What does Scout see symbollically as a mockingbird?


Answer: real nice

Question: According to Atticus, most people are how when you truly view them?


Answer: classical tragedy

Context: The novel exposes the loss of innocence so frequently that reviewer R. A. Dave claims that because every character has to face, or even suffer defeat, the book takes on elements of a classical tragedy. In exploring how each character deals with his or her own personal defeat, Lee builds a framework to judge whether the characters are heroes or fools. She guides the reader in such judgments, alternating between unabashed adoration and biting irony. Scout's experience with the Missionary Society is an ironic juxtaposition of women who mock her, gossip, and "reflect a smug, colonialist attitude toward other races" while giving the "appearance of gentility, piety, and morality". Conversely, when Atticus loses Tom's case, he is last to leave the courtroom, except for his children and the black spectators in the colored balcony, who rise silently as he walks underneath them, to honor his efforts.

Question: Reviewer R. A. Dave classified the novel how?


Answer: The Chicago Sunday Tribune

Context: Initial reactions to the novel were varied. The New Yorker declared it "skilled, unpretentious, and totally ingenious", and The Atlantic Monthly's reviewer rated it as "pleasant, undemanding reading", but found the narrative voice—"a six-year-old girl with the prose style of a well-educated adult"—to be implausible. Time magazine's 1960 review of the book states that it "teaches the reader an astonishing number of useful truths about little girls and about Southern life" and calls Scout Finch "the most appealing child since Carson McCullers' Frankie got left behind at the wedding". The Chicago Sunday Tribune noted the even-handed approach to the narration of the novel's events, writing: "This is in no way a sociological novel. It underlines no cause ... To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel of strong contemporary national significance."

Question: What newspaper wrote that the novel has strong contemporary national significance?


Answer: Granville Hicks

Context: Not all reviewers were enthusiastic. Some lamented the use of poor white Southerners, and one-dimensional black victims, and Granville Hicks labeled the book "melodramatic and contrived". When the book was first released, Southern writer Flannery O'Connor commented, "I think for a child's book it does all right. It's interesting that all the folks that are buying it don't know they're reading a child's book. Somebody ought to say what it is." Carson McCullers apparently agreed with the Time magazine review, writing to a cousin: "Well, honey, one thing we know is that she's been poaching on my literary preserves."

Question: Which reviewer called the book melodramatic and contrived?


Answer: Flannery O'Connor

Question: Which Southern writer deemed it a child's book?


Answer: William Faulkner

Context: The 50th anniversary of the novel's release was met with celebrations and reflections on its impact. Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune praises Lee's "rich use of language" but writes that the central lesson is that "courage isn't always flashy, isn't always enough, but is always in style". Jane Sullivan in the Sydney Morning Herald agrees, stating that the book "still rouses fresh and horrified indignation" as it examines morality, a topic that has recently become unfashionable. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie writing in The Guardian states that Lee, rare among American novelists, writes with "a fiercely progressive ink, in which there is nothing inevitable about racism and its very foundation is open to question", comparing her to William Faulkner, who wrote about racism as an inevitability. Literary critic Rosemary Goring in Scotland's The Herald notes the connections between Lee and Jane Austen, stating the book's central theme, that "one’s moral convictions are worth fighting for, even at the risk of being reviled" is eloquently discussed.

Question: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie vompared Lee to whom?


Answer: Jane Austen

Question: Rosemary Goring connected Lee to whom?


Answer: Allen Barra

Context: Native Alabamian Allen Barra sharply criticized Lee and the novel in The Wall Street Journal calling Atticus a "repository of cracker-barrel epigrams" and the novel represents a "sugar-coated myth" of Alabama history. Barra writes, "It's time to stop pretending that To Kill a Mockingbird is some kind of timeless classic that ranks with the great works of American literature. Its bloodless liberal humanism is sadly dated". Thomas Mallon in The New Yorker criticizes Atticus' stiff and self-righteous demeanor, and calls Scout "a kind of highly constructed doll" whose speech and actions are improbable. Although acknowledging that the novel works, Mallon blasts Lee's "wildly unstable" narrative voice for developing a story about a content neighborhood until it begins to impart morals in the courtroom drama, following with his observation that "the book has begun to cherish its own goodness" by the time the case is over.[note 2] Defending the book, Akin Ajayi writes that justice "is often complicated, but must always be founded upon the notion of equality and fairness for all." Ajayi states that the book forces readers to question issues about race, class, and society, but that it was not written to resolve them.

Question: Who criticized Lee in The Wall Street Journal?


Answer: Akin Ajayi

Question: Who wrote that the book forces readers to question issues without resolving them?


Answer: Calpurnia

Context: Furthermore, despite the novel's thematic focus on racial injustice, its black characters are not fully examined. In its use of racial epithets, stereotyped depictions of superstitious blacks, and Calpurnia, who to some critics is an updated version of the "contented slave" motif and to others simply unexplored, the book is viewed as marginalizing black characters. One writer asserts that the use of Scout's narration serves as a convenient mechanism for readers to be innocent and detached from the racial conflict. Scout's voice "functions as the not-me which allows the rest of us—black and white, male and female—to find our relative position in society". A teaching guide for the novel published by The English Journal cautions, "what seems wonderful or powerful to one group of students may seem degrading to another". A Canadian language arts consultant found that the novel resonated well with white students, but that black students found it "demoralizing". Another criticism, articulated by Michael Lind, is that the novel indulges in classist stereotyping and demonization of poor rural "white trash".

Question: Which character has some critics deemed a variation of a contented slave?


Answer: black students

Question: According to one consultant, which group found the book demoralizing?


Answer: poor rural "white trash"

Question: Michael Lund criticized the novel for demonizing whom?


Answer: the harsh reality of inequality

Context: Diane McWhorter, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of the Birmingham civil rights campaign, asserts that To Kill a Mockingbird condemns racism instead of racists, and states that every child in the South has moments of racial cognitive dissonance when they are faced with the harsh reality of inequality. This feeling causes them to question the beliefs with which they have been raised, which for many children is what the novel does. McWhorter writes of Lee, "for a white person from the South to write a book like this in the late 1950s is really unusual—by its very existence an act of protest."[note 4] Author James McBride calls Lee brilliant but stops short of calling her brave: "I think by calling Harper Lee brave you kind of absolve yourself of your own racism ... She certainly set the standards in terms of how these issues need to be discussed, but in many ways I feel ... the moral bar's been lowered. And that's really distressing. We need a thousand Atticus Finches." McBride, however, defends the book's sentimentality, and the way Lee approaches the story with "honesty and integrity".

Question: According to Diane McWhorter, every child in the South had to face what?


Answer: an act of protest

Question: McWhorter wrote that the existance of the book was what?


Answer: like Scripture

Context: According to a National Geographic article, the novel is so revered in Monroeville that people quote lines from it like Scripture; yet Harper Lee herself refused to attend any performances, because "she abhors anything that trades on the book's fame". To underscore this sentiment, Lee demanded that a book of recipes named Calpurnia's Cookbook not be published and sold out of the Monroe County Heritage Museum. David Lister in The Independent states that Lee's refusal to speak to reporters made them desire to interview her all the more, and her silence "makes Bob Dylan look like a media tart". Despite her discouragement, a rising number of tourists made to Monroeville a destination, hoping to see Lee's inspiration for the book, or Lee herself. Local residents call them "Mockingbird groupies", and although Lee was not reclusive, she refused publicity and interviews with an emphatic "Hell, no!"

Question: How do the citizens of Monroeville quote lines of the book?


Answer: Mockingbird groupies

Question: What do the Monroeville townspeople call tourists to their town?


Answer: the Sun

Context: Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun harnessed using a range of ever-evolving technologies such as solar heating, photovoltaics, solar thermal energy, solar architecture and artificial photosynthesis.

Question: Where does solar energy come from?


Answer: Solar energy

Question: What kind of energy consists of the light and heat provided by the Sun?


Answer: solar heating, photovoltaics, solar thermal energy, solar architecture and artificial photosynthesis

Question: What technologies are used to harness solar energy from the sun?


Answer: radiant light and heat from the Sun

Question: What is solar energy?


Answer: 174,000

Context: The Earth receives 174,000 terawatts (TW) of incoming solar radiation (insolation) at the upper atmosphere. Approximately 30% is reflected back to space while the rest is absorbed by clouds, oceans and land masses. The spectrum of solar light at the Earth's surface is mostly spread across the visible and near-infrared ranges with a small part in the near-ultraviolet. Most people around the world live in areas with insolation levels of 150 to 300 watts per square meter or 3.5 to 7.0 kWh/m2 per day.

Question: How many terawatts of solar radiation does the Earth receive?


Answer: 30%

Question: What percentage of solar radiation is reflected back by the atmosphere?


Answer: 3.5 to 7.0

Question: The areas that people live in typically receive what range of kWh/m2 per day?


Answer: 174,000

Question: How many terrawatts of radiation does the earth receive?


Answer: Approximately 30%

Question: How much of the solar radiation is reflected back into space?


Answer: 150 to 300 watts per square meter or 3.5 to 7.0 kWh/m2 per day

Question: What are the insolation levels of most populated areas?


Answer: clouds, oceans and land masses

Question: Where is the solar radiation not reflected back to space absorbed?


Answer: 71

Context: Solar radiation is absorbed by the Earth's land surface, oceans – which cover about 71% of the globe – and atmosphere. Warm air containing evaporated water from the oceans rises, causing atmospheric circulation or convection. When the air reaches a high altitude, where the temperature is low, water vapor condenses into clouds, which rain onto the Earth's surface, completing the water cycle. The latent heat of water condensation amplifies convection, producing atmospheric phenomena such as wind, cyclones and anti-cyclones. Sunlight absorbed by the oceans and land masses keeps the surface at an average temperature of 14 °C. By photosynthesis green plants convert solar energy into chemically stored energy, which produces food, wood and the biomass from which fossil fuels are derived.

Question: The Earth's oceans cover what percentage of the globe?


Answer: 14

Question: What is the average temperature of the Earth's surface in Celsius?


Answer: photosynthesis

Question: What is the process by which green plants convert solar energy to stored energy?


Answer: about 71%

Question: How much of the earth is covered by oceans?


Answer: Warm air containing evaporated water from the oceans rises

Question: What is the cause of atmospheric circulation?


Answer: When the air reaches a high altitude, where the temperature is low, water vapor condenses into clouds

Question: How does the water vapor that rises in warm air turn into clouds?


Answer: The latent heat of water condensation amplifies convection

Question: What creates wind, cyclones and anti-cyclones?


Answer: photosynthesis

Question: What is the process in which plants convert solar energy into stored energy called?


Answer: 3,850,000

Context: The total solar energy absorbed by Earth's atmosphere, oceans and land masses is approximately 3,850,000 exajoules (EJ) per year. In 2002, this was more energy in one hour than the world used in one year. Photosynthesis captures approximately 3,000 EJ per year in biomass. The amount of solar energy reaching the surface of the planet is so vast that in one year it is about twice as much as will ever be obtained from all of the Earth's non-renewable resources of coal, oil, natural gas, and mined uranium combined,

Question: Each year the Earth absorbs how much solar energy in exajoules?


Answer: one year

Question: In 2002, the Sun provided more energy in one hour than humans used in what span of time?


Answer: 3,000

Question: How much energy in exajoules does photosynthesis capture each year?


Answer: one year

Question: Twice the amount of energy obtainable by all the non-renewable sources on Earth can be provided by the Sun in what span of time?


Answer: approximately 3,850,000 exajoules (EJ) per year

Question: What is the amount of solar energy absorbed by the earth?


Answer: approximately 3,000 EJ per year

Question: How much solar energy is captured by photosynthesis?


Answer: coal, oil, natural gas, and mined uranium combined

Question: The amount of solar energy per year is twice as much as the energy that will ever be produced from what resources?


Answer: the Sun

Context: Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive or active depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute sunlight and enable solar energy to be harnessed at different levels around the world, mostly depending on distance from the equator. Although solar energy refers primarily to the use of solar radiation for practical ends, all renewable energies, other than geothermal and tidal, derive their energy from the Sun in a direct or indirect way.

Question: Where do the majority of renewable energies derive their energy from?


Answer: passive or active

Question: How are solar technologies defined?


Answer: depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute sunlight

Question: What is one way that characterizes solar technologies as passive or active?


Answer: geothermal and tidal

Question: Which renewable energies do not acquire their energy from the sun?


Answer: direct or indirect

Question: How do renewable energies acquire energy from the sun?


Answer: Active

Context: Active solar techniques use photovoltaics, concentrated solar power, solar thermal collectors, pumps, and fans to convert sunlight into useful outputs. Passive solar techniques include selecting materials with favorable thermal properties, designing spaces that naturally circulate air, and referencing the position of a building to the Sun. Active solar technologies increase the supply of energy and are considered supply side technologies, while passive solar technologies reduce the need for alternate resources and are generally considered demand side technologies.

Question: Are supply side solar technologies generally active or passive?


Answer: Passive

Question: Are demand side solar technologies generally active or passive?


Answer: solar thermal collectors

Question: What is an active solar technique used to generate energy?


Answer: designing spaces that naturally circulate air

Question: What is an active solar technique used to generate energy?


Answer: increase the supply of energy

Question: What does an active solar technique do?


Answer: reduce the need for alternate resources

Question: What does a passive solar technique do?


Answer: Frank Shuman

Context: In 1897, Frank Shuman, a U.S. inventor, engineer and solar energy pioneer built a small demonstration solar engine that worked by reflecting solar energy onto square boxes filled with ether, which has a lower boiling point than water, and were fitted internally with black pipes which in turn powered a steam engine. In 1908 Shuman formed the Sun Power Company with the intent of building larger solar power plants. He, along with his technical advisor A.S.E. Ackermann and British physicist Sir Charles Vernon Boys, developed an improved system using mirrors to reflect solar energy upon collector boxes, increasing heating capacity to the extent that water could now be used instead of ether. Shuman then constructed a full-scale steam engine powered by low-pressure water, enabling him to patent the entire solar engine system by 1912.

Question: What was the name of the inventor who built a solar engine in 1897?


Answer: 1908

Question: In what year was the Sun Power Company formed?


Answer: 1912

Question: Shuman patented his solar engine system in what year?


Answer: a U.S. inventor, engineer and solar energy pioneer

Question: Who is Frank Shuman?


Answer: 1897

Question: In what year did solar engine build his solar engine?


Answer: steam engine

Question: What was the solar engine used to power?


Answer: 1908

Question: In what year was the Sun Power Company established?


Answer: 1912

Question: In what year did Frank Shuman patent his solar engine?


Answer: Maadi, Egypt

Context: Shuman built the world’s first solar thermal power station in Maadi, Egypt, between 1912 and 1913. Shuman’s plant used parabolic troughs to power a 45–52 kilowatts (60–70 hp) engine that pumped more than 22,000 litres (4,800 imp gal; 5,800 US gal) of water per minute from the Nile River to adjacent cotton fields. Although the outbreak of World War I and the discovery of cheap oil in the 1930s discouraged the advancement of solar energy, Shuman’s vision and basic design were resurrected in the 1970s with a new wave of interest in solar thermal energy. In 1916 Shuman was quoted in the media advocating solar energy's utilization, saying:

Question: Where did Shuman build the world's first solar thermal power station?


Answer: 22,000

Question: How many liters of water per minute did Shuman's engine pump in litres?


Answer: the 1970s

Question: In what decade were Shuman's ideas about solar energy revived?


Answer: Maadi, Egypt

Question: Where was the first solar thermal power plant built?


Answer: parabolic troughs

Question: What was used to power the plants engine?


Answer: Nile River

Question: From what river did the engine pump water?


Answer: the outbreak of World War I and the discovery of cheap oil

Question: What slowed down the growth of solar energy?


Answer: the 1970s

Question: When was the interest in solar energy restored?


Answer: 70

Context: Solar hot water systems use sunlight to heat water. In low geographical latitudes (below 40 degrees) from 60 to 70% of the domestic hot water use with temperatures up to 60 °C can be provided by solar heating systems. The most common types of solar water heaters are evacuated tube collectors (44%) and glazed flat plate collectors (34%) generally used for domestic hot water; and unglazed plastic collectors (21%) used mainly to heat swimming pools.

Question: According to Shuman, up to what percentage of domestic hot water can be provided by solar heating systems?


Answer: sunlight

Question: What do Solar hot water systems use to heat water?


Answer: 60 to 70% of the domestic hot water

Question: How much hot water can be produced by solar heating systems in low geographical latitudes?


Answer: evacuated tube collectors

Question: What is a common type of solar water heater?


Answer: unglazed plastic collectors

Question: What type of solar water heater is used to heat pools?


Answer: 154

Context: As of 2007, the total installed capacity of solar hot water systems is approximately 154 thermal gigawatt (GWth). China is the world leader in their deployment with 70 GWth installed as of 2006 and a long-term goal of 210 GWth by 2020. Israel and Cyprus are the per capita leaders in the use of solar hot water systems with over 90% of homes using them. In the United States, Canada and Australia heating swimming pools is the dominant application of solar hot water with an installed capacity of 18 GWth as of 2005.

Question: What was the total capacity of solar hot water systems in 2007 in gigawatts?


Answer: Israel and Cyprus

Question: Over 90% of homes use solar hot water systems in which two countries?


Answer: approximately 154 thermal gigawatt

Question: What is the capacity of a solar hot water system?


Answer: China

Question: What country is the leader in the implementation of solar powered hot water systems?


Answer: over 90%

Question: What percentage of households use solar hot water systems in Israel and Cyprus?


Answer: United States, Canada and Australia

Question: In what countries is the use to solar hot water used mainly for w=swimming pools?


Answer: 50

Context: In the United States, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems account for 30% (4.65 EJ/yr) of the energy used in commercial buildings and nearly 50% (10.1 EJ/yr) of the energy used in residential buildings. Solar heating, cooling and ventilation technologies can be used to offset a portion of this energy.

Question: What percentage of energy in commercial buildings comes from HVAC systems?


Answer: 30% (4.65 EJ/yr)

Question: How much energy does an HVAC system use in commercial locations?


Answer: 50% (10.1 EJ/yr)

Question: How much energy does an HVAC system use in residential locations?


Answer: Solar heating, cooling and ventilation technologies

Question: What can be used to balance out a portion of the energy used by HVAC systems?


Answer: Thermal

Context: Thermal mass is any material that can be used to store heat—heat from the Sun in the case of solar energy. Common thermal mass materials include stone, cement and water. Historically they have been used in arid climates or warm temperate regions to keep buildings cool by absorbing solar energy during the day and radiating stored heat to the cooler atmosphere at night. However, they can be used in cold temperate areas to maintain warmth as well. The size and placement of thermal mass depend on several factors such as climate, daylighting and shading conditions. When properly incorporated, thermal mass maintains space temperatures in a comfortable range and reduces the need for auxiliary heating and cooling equipment.

Question: Materials that can be used to store heat are known as what kind of mass?


Answer: any material that can be used to store heat

Question: What is thermal mass?


Answer: stone, cement and water

Question: What are typical thermal mass material?


Answer: by absorbing solar energy during the day and radiating stored heat to the cooler atmosphere at night

Question: How is thermal mass used to keep buildings cool?


Answer: climates

Question: What is a something that determines the size of thermal mass?


Answer: auxiliary heating and cooling equipment

Question: What does thermal mass reduce the need for?


Answer: passive solar ventilation

Context: A solar chimney (or thermal chimney, in this context) is a passive solar ventilation system composed of a vertical shaft connecting the interior and exterior of a building. As the chimney warms, the air inside is heated causing an updraft that pulls air through the building. Performance can be improved by using glazing and thermal mass materials in a way that mimics greenhouses.

Question: What kind of system is a solar chimney?


Answer: a passive solar ventilation system

Question: What is a solar chimney?


Answer: a vertical shaft connecting the interior and exterior of a building

Question: What is a solar chimney made of?


Answer: by using glazing and thermal mass materials in a way that mimics greenhouses

Question: How can the performance of a solar chimney be improved?


Answer: winter

Context: Deciduous trees and plants have been promoted as a means of controlling solar heating and cooling. When planted on the southern side of a building in the northern hemisphere or the northern side in the southern hemisphere, their leaves provide shade during the summer, while the bare limbs allow light to pass during the winter. Since bare, leafless trees shade 1/3 to 1/2 of incident solar radiation, there is a balance between the benefits of summer shading and the corresponding loss of winter heating. In climates with significant heating loads, deciduous trees should not be planted on the Equator facing side of a building because they will interfere with winter solar availability. They can, however, be used on the east and west sides to provide a degree of summer shading without appreciably affecting winter solar gain.

Question: The placement of deciduous trees on the Equator facing side of a building can have a negative effect on solar availability in which season?


Answer: trees and plants

Question: What is something that is used to control solar heating and cooling?


Answer: 1/3 to 1/2

Question: How much solar radiation is blocked by leafless trees?


Answer: they will interfere with winter solar availability

Question: Why should trees not be planted on the side of a building facing the equator?


Answer: east and west

Question: What side of a building should trees be planted without greatly affecting solar gain in the winter?


Answer: 1767

Context: Solar cookers use sunlight for cooking, drying and pasteurization. They can be grouped into three broad categories: box cookers, panel cookers and reflector cookers. The simplest solar cooker is the box cooker first built by Horace de Saussure in 1767. A basic box cooker consists of an insulated container with a transparent lid. It can be used effectively with partially overcast skies and will typically reach temperatures of 90–150 °C (194–302 °F). Panel cookers use a reflective panel to direct sunlight onto an insulated container and reach temperatures comparable to box cookers. Reflector cookers use various concentrating geometries (dish, trough, Fresnel mirrors) to focus light on a cooking container. These cookers reach temperatures of 315 °C (599 °F) and above but require direct light to function properly and must be repositioned to track the Sun.

Question: Horace de Saussure built the first box cooker in what year?


Answer: 315

Question: Reflector cookers can reach temperatures in Celsius of up to what?


Answer: cooking, drying and pasteurization

Question: What are solar cookers used for?


Answer: box cookers, panel cookers and reflector cookers

Question: What are the 3 main categories of solar cookers?


Answer: Horace de Saussure

Question: Who created the box cooker?


Answer: 90–150 °C (194–302 °F)

Question: What is the typical temperature range for a box cooker?


Answer: direct light

Question: What do reflector cookers require to function?


Answer: 114

Context: Solar concentrating technologies such as parabolic dish, trough and Scheffler reflectors can provide process heat for commercial and industrial applications. The first commercial system was the Solar Total Energy Project (STEP) in Shenandoah, Georgia, USA where a field of 114 parabolic dishes provided 50% of the process heating, air conditioning and electrical requirements for a clothing factory. This grid-connected cogeneration system provided 400 kW of electricity plus thermal energy in the form of 401 kW steam and 468 kW chilled water, and had a one-hour peak load thermal storage. Evaporation ponds are shallow pools that concentrate dissolved solids through evaporation. The use of evaporation ponds to obtain salt from sea water is one of the oldest applications of solar energy. Modern uses include concentrating brine solutions used in leach mining and removing dissolved solids from waste streams. Clothes lines, clotheshorses, and clothes racks dry clothes through evaporation by wind and sunlight without consuming electricity or gas. In some states of the United States legislation protects the "right to dry" clothes. Unglazed transpired collectors (UTC) are perforated sun-facing walls used for preheating ventilation air. UTCs can raise the incoming air temperature up to 22 °C (40 °F) and deliver outlet temperatures of 45–60 °C (113–140 °F). The short payback period of transpired collectors (3 to 12 years) makes them a more cost-effective alternative than glazed collection systems. As of 2003, over 80 systems with a combined collector area of 35,000 square metres (380,000 sq ft) had been installed worldwide, including an 860 m2 (9,300 sq ft) collector in Costa Rica used for drying coffee beans and a 1,300 m2 (14,000 sq ft) collector in Coimbatore, India, used for drying marigolds.

Question: The Solar Total Energy Project had a field of how many parabolic dishes?


Answer: more

Question: Are transpired collectors more or less cost-effective than glazed collection systems?


Answer: parabolic dish, trough and Scheffler reflectors

Question: What are some examples of solar concentrating technologies?


Answer: Solar Total Energy Project (STEP) in Shenandoah, Georgia, USA

Question: What was the first commercial solar concentrating system?


Answer: use of evaporation ponds to obtain salt from sea water

Question: What is one of the oldest uses of solar energy?


Answer: Clothes lines, clotheshorses, and clothes racks

Question: What are some items used to dry clothes without the use of electricity?


Answer: perforated sun-facing walls used for preheating ventilation air

Question: What are Unglazed transpired collectors?


Answer: 1872

Context: Solar distillation can be used to make saline or brackish water potable. The first recorded instance of this was by 16th-century Arab alchemists. A large-scale solar distillation project was first constructed in 1872 in the Chilean mining town of Las Salinas. The plant, which had solar collection area of 4,700 m2 (51,000 sq ft), could produce up to 22,700 L (5,000 imp gal; 6,000 US gal) per day and operate for 40 years. Individual still designs include single-slope, double-slope (or greenhouse type), vertical, conical, inverted absorber, multi-wick, and multiple effect. These stills can operate in passive, active, or hybrid modes. Double-slope stills are the most economical for decentralized domestic purposes, while active multiple effect units are more suitable for large-scale applications.

Question: In what year was a large scale solar distillation project constructed in Las Salinas?


Answer: Solar distillation

Question: What is used to make saline or brackish water drinkable?


Answer: 16th-century Arab alchemists

Question: By who was the first record of solar distillation done by?


Answer: 1872

Question: When was the first large solar distillation plant created?


Answer: 22,700 L (5,000 imp gal; 6,000 US gal) per day

Question: How much water was produced by the plant?


Answer: single-slope

Question: What is an example of a solar distillation design?


Answer: the World Health Organization

Context: Solar water disinfection (SODIS) involves exposing water-filled plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles to sunlight for several hours. Exposure times vary depending on weather and climate from a minimum of six hours to two days during fully overcast conditions. It is recommended by the World Health Organization as a viable method for household water treatment and safe storage. Over two million people in developing countries use this method for their daily drinking water.

Question: Solar water disinfection is recommended by which organization?


Answer: a minimum of six hours to two days during fully overcast conditions

Question: How long should the plastic bottles filled with water be exposed to sunlight during Solar water disinfection?


Answer: a viable method for household water treatment and safe storage

Question: What does the World Health Organization say about Solar water disinfection?


Answer: Over two million people in developing countries

Question: How many people use Solar water disinfection to disinfect their drinking water?


Answer: toxic chemicals

Context: Solar energy may be used in a water stabilisation pond to treat waste water without chemicals or electricity. A further environmental advantage is that algae grow in such ponds and consume carbon dioxide in photosynthesis, although algae may produce toxic chemicals that make the water unusable.

Question: What is a possible negative effect of algae in water stabilization ponds?


Answer: to treat waste water without chemicals or electricity

Question: For what reason would solar energy be used in a water stabilisation pond?


Answer: algae may produce toxic chemicals

Question: What is a reason why the water from a water stabilisation pond may be unusable?


Answer: 2050

Context: Solar power is anticipated to become the world's largest source of electricity by 2050, with solar photovoltaics and concentrated solar power contributing 16 and 11 percent to the global overall consumption, respectively.

Question: By what year is solar power expected to become the world's greatest source of electricity?


Answer: 2050

Question: When is solar power is foreseen to become the largest source of electricity?


Answer: the Mojave Desert

Context: Commercial CSP plants were first developed in the 1980s. Since 1985 the eventually 354 MW SEGS CSP installation, in the Mojave Desert of California, is the largest solar power plant in the world. Other large CSP plants include the 150 MW Solnova Solar Power Station and the 100 MW Andasol solar power station, both in Spain. The 250 MW Agua Caliente Solar Project, in the United States, and the 221 MW Charanka Solar Park in India, are the world’s largest photovoltaic plants. Solar projects exceeding 1 GW are being developed, but most of the deployed photovoltaics are in small rooftop arrays of less than 5 kW, which are grid connected using net metering and/or a feed-in tariff. In 2013 solar generated less than 1% of the worlds total grid electricity.

Question: The largest solar power plant in the world is located in what desert?


Answer: 2013

Question: Less than 1% of the world's total grid electricity was generated by solar energy in what year?


Answer: 354 MW SEGS CSP

Question: What is the largest solar power plant in the world?


Answer: Mojave Desert of California

Question: Where is the largest solar power plant in the world located?


Answer: The 250 MW Agua Caliente Solar Project, in the United States, and the 221 MW Charanka Solar Park in India

Question: What are the largest photovoltaic solar power plants?


Answer: Charles Fritts

Context: In the last two decades, photovoltaics (PV), also known as solar PV, has evolved from a pure niche market of small scale applications towards becoming a mainstream electricity source. A solar cell is a device that converts light directly into electricity using the photoelectric effect. The first solar cell was constructed by Charles Fritts in the 1880s. In 1931 a German engineer, Dr Bruno Lange, developed a photo cell using silver selenide in place of copper oxide. Although the prototype selenium cells converted less than 1% of incident light into electricity, both Ernst Werner von Siemens and James Clerk Maxwell recognized the importance of this discovery. Following the work of Russell Ohl in the 1940s, researchers Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin created the crystalline silicon solar cell in 1954. These early solar cells cost 286 USD/watt and reached efficiencies of 4.5–6%. By 2012 available efficiencies exceed 20% and the maximum efficiency of research photovoltaics is over 40%.

Question: In the 1880s, who constructed the first solar cell?


Answer: 1954

Question: In what year was the crystalline silicon solar cell constructed?


Answer: evolved from a pure niche market of small scale applications towards becoming a mainstream electricity source

Question: What has happened to photovoltaic in the past 20 years?


Answer: a device that converts light directly into electricity

Question: What is a solar cell?


Answer: Charles Fritts

Question: Who created the first solar cell?


Answer: Dr Bruno Lange

Question: Who created the first solar cell using silver selenide in place of copper oxide?


Answer: Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin

Question: Who created the crystalline silicon solar cell?


Answer: a working fluid

Context: Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. The concentrated heat is then used as a heat source for a conventional power plant. A wide range of concentrating technologies exists; the most developed are the parabolic trough, the concentrating linear fresnel reflector, the Stirling dish and the solar power tower. Various techniques are used to track the Sun and focus light. In all of these systems a working fluid is heated by the concentrated sunlight, and is then used for power generation or energy storage.

Question: In all the different CSP systems, concentrated sunlight is used to heat what?


Answer: lenses or mirrors and tracking systems

Question: What do Concentrating Solar Power systems use?


Answer: a heat source for a conventional power plant

Question: What is the heat generated from a Concentrating Solar Power system used for?


Answer: the Stirling dish

Question: What is one of the most developed Concentrating Solar Power technologies?


Answer: a working fluid is heated by the concentrated sunlight

Question: What do Concentrating Solar Power technologies have in common?


Answer: Megaron House

Context: The common features of passive solar architecture are orientation relative to the Sun, compact proportion (a low surface area to volume ratio), selective shading (overhangs) and thermal mass. When these features are tailored to the local climate and environment they can produce well-lit spaces that stay in a comfortable temperature range. Socrates' Megaron House is a classic example of passive solar design. The most recent approaches to solar design use computer modeling tying together solar lighting, heating and ventilation systems in an integrated solar design package. Active solar equipment such as pumps, fans and switchable windows can complement passive design and improve system performance.

Question: Socrate's what is a classic example of passive solar design?


Answer: orientation relative to the Sun

Question: What is a common feature of passive solar architecture?


Answer: well-lit spaces that stay in a comfortable temperature range

Question: What is produced when the features of passive solar architecture are customized to the environment?


Answer: Socrates' Megaron House

Question: What is an example of passive solar design?


Answer: pumps, fans and switchable windows

Question: What kind of equipment can improve system performance?


Answer: Urban heat islands

Context: Urban heat islands (UHI) are metropolitan areas with higher temperatures than that of the surrounding environment. The higher temperatures are a result of increased absorption of the Solar light by urban materials such as asphalt and concrete, which have lower albedos and higher heat capacities than those in the natural environment. A straightforward method of counteracting the UHI effect is to paint buildings and roads white and plant trees. Using these methods, a hypothetical "cool communities" program in Los Angeles has projected that urban temperatures could be reduced by approximately 3 °C at an estimated cost of US$1 billion, giving estimated total annual benefits of US$530 million from reduced air-conditioning costs and healthcare savings.

Question: UHI is an abbreviation of what?


Answer: 3

Question: A program in Los Angeles believes that with $1 billion, city temperatures could be reduced by approximately how many degrees in Celsius?


Answer: Urban heat islands

Question: What are the metropolitan areas with higher temperatures than the surrounding areas called?


Answer: asphalt and concrete

Question: What materials absorb sunlight and create higher temperatures than natural materials?


Answer: paint buildings and roads white and plant trees

Question: What is a way to reduce the high temperatures created in urban heat islands?


Answer: fruit walls

Context: Agriculture and horticulture seek to optimize the capture of solar energy in order to optimize the productivity of plants. Techniques such as timed planting cycles, tailored row orientation, staggered heights between rows and the mixing of plant varieties can improve crop yields. While sunlight is generally considered a plentiful resource, the exceptions highlight the importance of solar energy to agriculture. During the short growing seasons of the Little Ice Age, French and English farmers employed fruit walls to maximize the collection of solar energy. These walls acted as thermal masses and accelerated ripening by keeping plants warm. Early fruit walls were built perpendicular to the ground and facing south, but over time, sloping walls were developed to make better use of sunlight. In 1699, Nicolas Fatio de Duillier even suggested using a tracking mechanism which could pivot to follow the Sun. Applications of solar energy in agriculture aside from growing crops include pumping water, drying crops, brooding chicks and drying chicken manure. More recently the technology has been embraced by vinters, who use the energy generated by solar panels to power grape presses.

Question: During the Little Ice Age, what did English and French farmers use to increase collection of solar energy?


Answer: power grape presses

Question: Vinters have adopted solar technology to do what?


Answer: to optimize the productivity of plants

Question: Why do agriculture and horticulture seek to make the most use of the solar energy captured?


Answer: timed planting cycles, tailored row orientation, staggered heights between rows and the mixing of plant varieties

Question: What are some techniques used to improve crop production?


Answer: employed fruit walls

Question: What did French and English farmers do during the Little Ice Age to gain more solar energy?


Answer: acted as thermal masses and accelerated ripening by keeping plants warm

Question: What was the purpose of the fruit walls built by French and English farmers?


Answer: Roman times

Context: Greenhouses convert solar light to heat, enabling year-round production and the growth (in enclosed environments) of specialty crops and other plants not naturally suited to the local climate. Primitive greenhouses were first used during Roman times to produce cucumbers year-round for the Roman emperor Tiberius. The first modern greenhouses were built in Europe in the 16th century to keep exotic plants brought back from explorations abroad. Greenhouses remain an important part of horticulture today, and plastic transparent materials have also been used to similar effect in polytunnels and row covers.

Question: When were the first greenhouses used?


Answer: the 16th

Question: In what century were the first modern greenhouses constructed?


Answer: convert solar light to heat

Question: What do greenhouses do with solar energy?


Answer: enabling year-round production and the growth (in enclosed environments) of specialty crops

Question: What is one purpose of a greenhouse?


Answer: produce cucumbers year-round for the Roman emperor Tiberius

Question: What was one of the first uses of a greenhouse?


Answer: Europe

Question: Where were the first modern greenhouses built?


Answer: The World Solar Challenge

Context: Development of a solar-powered car has been an engineering goal since the 1980s. The World Solar Challenge is a biannual solar-powered car race, where teams from universities and enterprises compete over 3,021 kilometres (1,877 mi) across central Australia from Darwin to Adelaide. In 1987, when it was founded, the winner's average speed was 67 kilometres per hour (42 mph) and by 2007 the winner's average speed had improved to 90.87 kilometres per hour (56.46 mph). The North American Solar Challenge and the planned South African Solar Challenge are comparable competitions that reflect an international interest in the engineering and development of solar powered vehicles.

Question: What is the name of the solar powered car race held every two years?


Answer: 90.87

Question: What was the winner of the World Solar Challenge's average speed in 2007 in km/h?


Answer: a biannual solar-powered car race

Question: What is The World Solar Challenge?


Answer: 1987

Question: When was The World Solar Challenge started?


Answer: 67 kilometres per hour (42 mph)

Question: What was the average speed of a winning solar powered car in 1987?


Answer: 90.87 kilometres per hour (56.46 mph)

Question: What was the average speed of a winning solar powered car by 2007?


Answer: The North American Solar Challenge and the planned South African Solar Challenge

Question: What are some other similar car races that use solar powered vehicles?


Answer: 1975

Context: In 1975, the first practical solar boat was constructed in England. By 1995, passenger boats incorporating PV panels began appearing and are now used extensively. In 1996, Kenichi Horie made the first solar powered crossing of the Pacific Ocean, and the sun21 catamaran made the first solar powered crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in the winter of 2006–2007. There were plans to circumnavigate the globe in 2010.

Question: The first practical solar boat was constructed in what year?


Answer: 1975

Question: When was the first solar powered boat made?


Answer: Kenichi Horie

Question: Who first crossed the Pacific ocean using a solar powered boat?


Answer: the sun21 catamaran

Question: What was the name of the first solar powered boat that crossed the Atlantic ocean?