33. Mockingbird - Kathryn Erskine

Philomel Books, 2010
$15.99
for: Middle Grades
235 pgs.
Rating: 5 - I loved it.

I had no clue that this would get to me so. A beautifully crafted, haunting book. I've had a few hours to digest this, and I can't get the idea of the father out of my head. Imagine losing your wife to cancer when your kids are really young. Discoveing your daughter has Asperger's Syndrome. And then losing your 8th grade son when he is killed in a school shooting. I'd cry all the time, too.

This story is told from the point-of-view of ten year old Caitlin, who has Aspergers. I've heard it called both Syndrome and Disorder. It's a form of autism. Usually kids have a difficult time communicating with others, are very, very concrete, dislike eye contact and physical touch, and become obsessed with subjects. Usually considered eccentric. Caitlin certainly has all these difficulties. But she has a particularly caring teacher who helps guide her through the fifith grade. Her brother, Devon, used to be the one who taught her all the social rules so that she wouldn't be so "weird." She still remembers all his lessons.

But now Devon's gone. Her father is terrifically grief-stricken and Caitllin, who loves (and understands) words and her dictionary, feels she must find "closure." She becomes obsessed with that idea. At the same time her teacher is trying to teach her about friends - what they are and how to be one. She befriends first grade Michael, who she recognizes from her brother's memorial service. Lo and behold, his mother, a teacher, was one of the three killed. But it is her idea to finish her brother's Eagel Scout project - designing and building a beautiful wooden chest - that starts the healing process.

Erskine uses italics to show dialogue, not quotation marks. I rather liked it.

Woven throughout the book is the story of To Kill a Mockingbird. This family is the 21st century Scout, Jem, and Atticus. This book is a treasure.

Here are some interesting blog reviews about Mockingbird:

Bibliochic (a "future teen librarian))
Six Boxes of Books (three 30-something sisters)
Reading Nook (another teen blogger....love 'em!)