Mockingbird

As a female aspie myself, I found Caitlin's voice to be perfect. There are some negative comments here about how her voice is "inauthentic," particularly the incongruous inconsistencies in her intelligence. She can research a sophisticated report on how the heart works but she doesn't know what a "fun raiser" is? To me, this was one of the most authentic parts of the book, speaking as a child who elicited exactly the same reaction from adults as Caitlyn does to the negative reviewers here -- it doesn't make sense that you are so smart and so dumb. You must be pretending when you act like you don't understand something, after all, your vocabulary tests at six years above grade level...And Caitlyn's obsessive attachment to "closure" (another thing some reviewers say doesn't ring true) is typical of the aspie predilection for perseveration. Caitlyn is =searching= for much of the book for something she can perseverate on. So many things that make her ring true as an aspie to me are exactly the things that make the character seem inauthentic to some reviewers.Which brings me to the subject of empathy, and Caitlyn's manifest lack of it. This "lack of empathy" goes both ways. Aspies have a hard time empathizing with neurotypicals because neurotypicals are so baffling, but neurotypicals find aspies just as baffling and neurotypicals have as much difficulty empathizing with aspies as vice versa -- Exhibit A, the reviewers who find Caitlyn's voice not to ring true precisely because of her aspie characteristics. Im my experience, aspies easily empathize with other aspies (as I certainly did with Caitlin!)And one comment about the famous literalness of aspies. Sometimes I hear it implied that the reason that aspies take things literally is because they do not understand metaphor or have no imagination. Neither of those is true. What it is is that, if you take something as a metaphor, chances are that your interpretation will be completely different from what the neurotypical person intended. So literal interpretation of everyone's words is a way to be safe, it's like staying on a safe patch of solid ground surrounded by a swamp filled with quicksand -- once you leave the safe ground of default literalism, chances are good that you will find yourself stepping into a quicksand of misunderstanding, and struggling to straighten out the misunderstanding will only make you sink so deeply you get swallowed up. See, aspies can understand and use metaphors perfectly well.And one reviewer thought that using the metaphor "dip her toe into" was out of character for an aspie, because aspies don't use metaphor. Or aren't supposed to. To me, it was perfect -- it symbolized that Caitlin was starting to feel safe enough in the social world that her mind could start to move out of the safety of literalness.

In the aftermath of a school shooting, Caitlyn, a fifth grader with autism, tries to come to terms with closure. The way it is presented in the book “Closure”: is a word from the dictionary. Caitlyn doesn’t know if closure is a person, place or a thing. She tries to find it. My issue with the book was that Caitlyn did not grieve for her brother, one of the victims of the shooting. There was no bargaining, anger or depression. She accepted his death with robotic reactions. Even when she weeps uncontrollably toward the end of the novel, the author is defining “empathy” not describing a little girl missing her brother. I liked that this author cared about and attempted to teach about bullying and autism. But in a few places this novel fell short of that goal. Caitlyn did not always understand when she was being snubbed. A girl tells tells she wants to be left alone. Caitlyn feels the girl means she wants to left alone by everyone and tells people to stay away. While we Aspies may not always understand metaphor, we quickly learn when other kids don’t like us. We know when we are not welcome. Yet this was a good attempt inside the mind and actions of a child with Asperger Syndrome, and to help readers understand that we are all different, but we all need love and understanding and friends.

This is a really great book. I purchased it for myself to read and if I felt it was appropriate for my 11 year old daughter who has Aspergers. I cried and laughed throughout the book. I saw so much of my girl in it and it made me both sad and happy. It was nice to see a story told from the perspective of someone who thinks differently than myself and it made me feel more connected with my daughter. My daughter saw me reading it and asked what it was about. I told her a brief synopsis but didn't tell her about the Aspergers part. She had been recently diagnosed and we had discussed it with her but she really wasn't comprehending it all. I was curious to see how she would react to the book. She read the book and kept coming to me amazed that this girl thinks like I do, or this girl does this and that's how I do it, etc. She kept seeing herself in the character of the book. She laughed and cried as well but I think for different reasons then I did. After she read the book she asked me about Aspergers again and we talked about it again. She really enjoyed the main character of the book and the story. A very good read.

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erksine arrived new and in good condition. I initially read it when a student brought her copy to me to read this fall. We were reading To Kill a Mockingbird in class and once we began TKAM, she recognized the allusions that once did not make sense to her when she read Mockingbird the year prior. The book offers a unique and refreshing perspective, and although one Amazon reviewer commented that it was "depressing and lame" and she felt the book wasn't complex enough, I have to disagree. The lower Lexile makes this accessible and enjoyable to a variety of readers, and being able to discuss perspective, human behavior, school shootings, and Asperger's requires deep thinking that is necessary for young readers. I purchased this copy to keep in our classroom library and paired excerpts of Mockingbird with TKAM to discuss the allusions, symbolism of the mockingbird, and the previously listed topics.

The best thing about this book for me was that it managed to deal with two very tough subjects and yet still feel like a light fluffy read. Caitlin's view of the world was unique and compelling; I found myself devouring the whole story within a couple of hours as I couldn't put it down!The story is told in the first person, from Caitlin's point of view. I don't believe it could have worked any other way - as Caitlin has Asperger's, so the way she sees things is very different to the way we do. Although only ten, she has a strong voice and it was really interesting to see the different things she would say and do - simple sayings that we use easily confuse her, she has to have her clothing a certain way and she hates any shades of pink!Of course, the book deals with a second difficult subject - death. Caitlin's brother, who guided her through life, was murdered in a school shooting and as well as having to cope with that, her Father isn't quite there. I did feel slightly angry towards him at times, though!The ending is well wrapped up and did leave me wanting more - I wanted to find out what would happen to Caitlin when she moves schools!

Mockingbird is a beautiful story about Caitlin- a 10 year old with aspergers who is trying to find closure after her brother dies in a school shooting. I relate to this book on a really personal as my cousin - and my bestest friend has aspergers and I could really see his personality throughout the book which was so lovely to see, as well as this it helped me to understand the way that people with aspergers think. Even if you don't know someone with aspergers I think everyone should read this as it is her eye-opening to autistic people. Great book, read it in 2 days

If I could give this 10 stars I would. Such a delicate subject matter but so beautifully written. It's difficult not to feel a huge amount of love and admiration for our main character Caitlin, who has Aspergers, but is also dealing with a great deal of heartache. Seeing how she develops mentally and emotionally as the story goes on is so well presented that you can't help but feel it along with her. The insight into Aspergers is amazingly accurate and it's a book I would definitely recommend to anyone. easily one of the best stories I've read this year.

Fast delivery, excellent value and a brilliant book for any age. A must read! I am reading this with my students at school and the discussion questions that this book throws up are fantastic and really gets them thinking about someone with Asperger's syndrome. They have learnt so much about people with Asperger's and feel that they can really relate to the character of Caitlin. I would recommend this book to anyone, however, be warned it is an incredibly hard book to put down and I have had to keep the students books in school to stop them reading ahead of the group.

I do not do the emotional reading these days, but it caught my attention the description as I have close friends who are Aspergers, and friends whose kids are Aspergers... I had never encountered before a piece of writing so truthful, so close to what I think/feel/experience about Aspergers like this book. Amazingly written, I couldn't put it down, and cried a LOT throughout ...which very few writers get from me....LOved every minute. Thanks for keeping the pricing real too :)