Module 7--Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

Source: http://www.readerkidz.com/2010/12/12/books-for-every-celebration-in-a-childs-life/

Summary: 
Caitlin is a fifth grader with Asperger’s so she sees the world in black and white and does not understand emotions very well.  Her older brother, who helped her deal with social skills, was killed in a school shooting.  This is the second tragedy for Caitline because her mother had previously passed away from cancer.  Like the rest of the small town, she is looking for closure and decides to find it by finishing her brother’s Eagle Scout project, building a cedar chest, with her dad.   Ultimately, she finds her own meaning of friendship, closure, finesse, and empathy with the help of her counselor, Mrs. Brooks.

APA Reference: 

Erskine, K. (2010). Mockingbird. New York, NY: Philomel Books.

My Impressions:

 

I was fascinated by Caitlin's perspective and the way Erskine completely engrossed readers into Caitlin's world.  I have had one student that had Asperger's and I made a lot of connections to the way the student thought and acted.  Caitlin's narration demonstrates over and over how so many gray situations--figurative language and emotional reactions, especially--confuse and frustrate a person with Asperger's.  I felt the school shooting was a clever way to display Caitlin's understanding and misunderstanding of tragic events.  It added interest as you first tried to understand what happened to her brother and, second, wanted to see how Caitlin processed the situation.  I found the ending a little too neatly wrapped up.  Caitlin learned the concept of empathy and other abstract concepts quickly, perhaps too quickly for a person with Asperger's. 

Professional Reviews:

Gr 4-6-- From inside Caitlin's head, readers see the very personal aftermath of a middle school shooting that took the life of the older brother she adored. Caitlin is a bright fifth grader and a gifted artist. She also has Asperger's syndrome, and her brother, Devon, was the one who helped her interpret the world. Now she has only her father, a widower who is grieving anew and whose ability to relate to his daughter is limited. A compassionate school counselor works with her, trying to teach her the social skills that are so difficult for her. Through her own efforts and her therapy sessions, she begins to come to terms with her loss and makes her first, tentative steps toward friendship. Caitlin's thought processes, including her own brand of logic, are made remarkably clear. The longer readers spend in the child's world, the more understandable her entirely literal and dispassionate interpretations are. Marred slightly by the portrayal of Devon as a perfect being, this is nonetheless a valuable book. After getting to know Caitlin, young people's tendencies to label those around them as either "normal" or "weird" will seem as simplistic and inadequate a system as it truly is.

Brautigam, F. (2010). [Review of the book Mockingbird, by K. Erskine]. School Library Journal, 56(4), 154-156.  Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com

This heartbreaking story is delivered in the straightforward, often funny voice of a fifth-grade girl with Asperger's syndrome, who is frustrated by her inability to put herself in someone else's shoes. Caitlin's counselor, Mrs. Brook, tries to teach her how to empathize, but Caitlin is used to depending on her big brother Devon for guidance on such matters. Tragically, Devon has been killed in a school shooting. Caitlin, her dad and her schoolmates try to cope, and it is the deep grief they all share that ultimately helps Caitlin get to empathy. As readers celebrate this milestone with Caitlin, they realize that they too have been developing empathy by walking a while in her shoes, experiencing the distinctive way that she sees and interacts with the world. Erskine draws directly and indirectly on To Kill a Mockingbird and riffs on its central theme: The destruction of an innocent is perhaps both the deepest kind of psychosocial wound a community can face and its greatest opportunity for psychological and spiritual growth. (Fiction. 8-12)

[Review of the book Mockingbird, by K. Erskine]. (2010)  Kirkus Reviews, 78(5), 198. Retrieved from http://www.kirkusreviews.com  

Library Uses:  

• After students read To Kill a Mockingbird in reading class, display books that include To Kill a Mockingbird in the plot such as Mockingbird and Jellicoe Road.
• Suggest it as a read aloud for a teacher who has a student with Asperger’s or is otherwise "different" in their classroom.  Create discussion questions that will help classmates make conclusions about how a person with Asperger's thinks and how they might want to be treated.