I forgot about Lord of the flies. So that's two books from 8th grade through highschool, I was not assigned the rest of those.

But sure, a time to kill is vapid compared to to kill a Mockingbird. The one where the black characters have agency, and the choices that the lawyer makes with intention matter and have consequences, is vapid. The one where the kids shame a lynchmob and that's the only real disobedience to the system shown in the book is superior.