Scout and
Jem love
Atticus, but their cook,
Calpurnia, is a mystery. Since Scout’s mother died when Scout was two, Calpurnia raises Scout and Jem and Scout finds her tyrannical. When Scout is six and Jem is 10, they spend their summer playing on their block and, one morning, they find a boy sitting in
Miss Rachel’s collard patch. He introduces himself as Charles Baker Harris, or
Dill, and announces that he’s almost seven and can read. Dill is from Mississippi and is spending the summer with his aunt, Miss Rachel. He explains that he saw the film
Dracula, which endears him to Scout and Jem. After this, they spend the summer in their tree house and performing their various dramas based off of their favorite books. By August, though, they’re bored, and Dill turns his attention to the Radley Place.