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Summary
Summary
In Caitlin's world, everything is black or white. Things are good or bad. Anything in between is confusing. That's the stuff Caitlin's older brother, Devon, has always explained. But now Devon's dead and Dad is no help at all. Caitlin wants to get over it, but as an eleven-year-old girl with Asperger's, she doesn't know how. When she reads the definition of closure, she realizes that is what she needs. In her search for it, Caitlin discovers that not everything is black and white--the world is full of colors--messy and beautiful.
Kathryn Erskine has written a must-read gem, one of the most moving novels of the year.
Praise for MOCKINGBIRD
* "Erskine works in powerful imagery throughout." -- Publishers Weekly , starred review
* "[A] fine addition to the recent group of books with autistic narrators." -- Booklist , starred review
"A strong and complex character study." -- Horn Book
"This heartbreaking story is delivered in the straightforward, often funny voice of a fifth-grade girl with Asperger's Syndrome." -- Kirkus , starred review
"This is...a valuable book." -- School Library Journal
"Fascinating characters." -- Los Angeles Times
Author Notes
Kathryn Erskine spent many years as a lawyer before realizing that she'd rather write things that people might actually enjoy reading. She grew up mostly overseas and attended eight different schools, her favorite being the Hogwarts-type castle in Scotland. The faculty, of course, did not consist of wizards, although . . . how did the headmistress know that it was "the wee redhead" who led the campaign to free the mice from the biology lab? Erskine draws on her childhood--and her second childhood through her children--for her stories. She still loves to travel but nowadays most trips tend to be local, such as basketball and tennis courts, occasional emergency room visits, and the natural food store for very healthy organic chocolate with "life saving" flavonoids.
Reviews (5)
Horn Book Review
Caitlin tells readers about "The Day Our Life Fell Apart." Her older (by three years, one month, and sixteen days) brother Devon is killed in a school shooting, and she and her father are left to "Deal With It." But Caitlin has Asperger's syndrome, and what she has to "Deal With" are emotions, which are not one of her strengths. Devon always looked after her, much as older brother Jem looked out for Scout in Devon's favorite movie, To Kill a Mockingbird. Caitlin figures, though, that whoever did the shootings didn't listen in English class, because that story means that you shouldn't hurt innocent people. At the direction of her counselor, Caitlin looks for "Closure" and "Empathy," two words she can define but never understand; what she would rather do is retreat into her favorite hidey-hole with her purple fleece blanket. But she cannot. Her health, and that of her father's and even the community's, are dependent upon Caitlin learning to reach out to others and see the world with at least some of its intricacy. Although Dad tells her that life isn't like a movie, parts of the novel are, and an obvious and tidy resolution weakens what is otherwise a strong and complex character study. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
School Library Journal Review
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.-Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Ten-year-old Caitlin Smith has Asperger's syndrome, which is why she is processing a horrific event differently than everyone else in her small Virginia town. As the result of a school shooting, her beloved brother, Devon, and two others are dead. Caitlin's mother is also dead, lost to cancer when Caitlin was just three. She addresses these losses matter-of-factly; her lack of tact is especially hard on her father, a kind man who is falling apart. Over the course of the story, Caitlin, who like many with Asperger's has incredible brainpower but few social skills, must learn empathy. She narrates-a risky choice that mostly works. Her Amelia Bedelia-like misunderstandings of figurative language provide much needed moments of levity, and her extreme conscientiousness is endearing. Erskine (Quaking) works in powerful imagery throughout-Devon's unfinished Eagle Scout project was a wooden chest, and for Caitlin, it's entwined with the irreparable bullet wound in Devon's chest. Although an author's note links the novel with the 2007 tragedy at Virginia Tech, this novel is not about violence as much as about the ways in which a wounded community heals. Ages 10-up. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Ten-year-old Caitlyn hates recess, with all its noise and chaos, and her kind, patient counselor, Mrs. Brook, helps her to understand the reasons behind her discomfort, while offering advice about how to cope with her Asberger's Syndrome, make friends, and deal with her grief over her older brother's death in a recent school shooting. She eschews group projects in class, claiming that she doesn't need to learn how to get along with others, but solitude is neither good for her or her grieving father, and when Caitlyn hears the term closure, she turns to her one trusty friend, her dictionary, and sets out on a mission to find it for both of them. Along the way, Caitlyn makes many missteps, but eventually she does achieve the long-sought closure with great finesse, which is another of her favorite vocabulary words. Allusions to Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, the portrayal of a whole community's healing process, and the sharp insights into Caitlyn's behavior enhance this fine addition to the recent group of books with narrators with autism and Asbergers.--Dobrez, Cindy Copyright 2010 Booklist
Kirkus Review
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) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
