Kathryn Erskine

Ten-year-old Caitlin, who has Asperger's Syndrome, struggles to understand emotions, show empathy, and make friends at school, while at home she seeks closure by working on a project with her father.

Mockingbird

Mockingbird (Mok'ing-bûrd)

Jaden Nelson

This book was definitely not my favorite. It is from the point of view of a girl with aspergers, making the writing hard to follow. This was written very differently than most of the middle grade books I have read, and I think it is a lot harder of a read than most others. The book is depressing for about the first half, then it gets a little better, and eventually it ends ok. Although I know some people love this book for a variety of reasons, it was not for me.

Hannah Yang

At first, Mockingbird may be slightly confusing because of the way it's told: letters are Capitalized when they don't need to be, and Caitlin's way of thinking is different from ours. But why? Caitlin has Asperger's syndrome. 

She sees the whole World differently from us, which is hard to explain - and a little hard to get used to. This is why the book is so good; you can realistically feel how others would feel with Caitlin while still thinking in Caitlin's mindset. It's also why this book would have been extremely difficult to write. Sometimes you want to laugh at Caitlin and sometimes you get frustrated with her.

A very touching and Heartwarming story about finding Closure and relearning normal life. I would highly recommend Mockingbird to middle schoolers.

Jacqueline Englund

This was beautiful in every way! A book that deserves to be read!

Maxime van der Wal

2.5 stars
Oof, I have mixed feelings on this one. I picked this up because the protagonist is an autistic girl (though the term Aspergers is still used here as it was published before the DSM-V). As an autistic woman myself, I was very curious to see how well she'd be portrayed. I initially assumed this was written by an autistic author but when I started reading it, it was pretty clear it was written from a neurotypical point of view (it turns out the author's daughter is autistic and Caitlin was inspired by her). 

It really bothered me that Caitlin's counsellor was so adamant to make Caitlin act more like neurotypicals by forcing her to make eye-contact, not to stim, to make friends when she didn't want to, etc. Though it was realistic - as neurotypicals tend to believe we need to fit in in order to be happy - it also enforced the notion that we can ignore autistic people's needs simply because they differ from the 'standard'. It hit really close to home, especially because the counsellor was portrayed as a nice person who has good intentions, when she mainly made Caitlin feel bad for being the way she is. I also really didn't like that Caitlin is illustrated as someone who lacks empathy - autistic people aren't inherently unempathetic, we just show our empathy differently, sometimes even because we're hyperempathetic. It's a common misconception and I wish a topic as sensitive to the autistic community as empathy was treated more carefully, especially as it is a major theme in the story. 

Aside from my complaints, I did enjoy this story. It's concise, easy to read and deals with important issues, such as loss, grief and violence. I particularly resonated with the way Caitlin was treated by her classmates, as that was similar to my own experiences. I think the author did well on illustrating Caitlin as her own person, I just wish she would have consulted her daughter to make it more accurate, as this is written in first person. Still, the autistic representation isn't bad - it's actually heartwarming at times - it was just too stereotypical for my liking.

Toniy Knight

First thing's first I did not hate the story. In fact I thought the story was very interesting. It was easy to follow and good for a quick read. However the treatment of autism/aspergers left a bad taste in my mouth (functioning labels and "quiet hands" for example). 

For me Caitlin was the most important aspect of this book for me as an autistic person (I was diagnosed with aspergers). But Caitlin doesn't come off as a person so much as a list of traits. Traits we have seen time and time again. She is every other autistic character but with different pronouns. Copy pasting the same character with only minor tweaks (such as their special interest or pronouns) is not representation. 

This book could have gone one of three ways; the way I expected, the way I hoped and the way I dreaded. It definitely went the way I expected.

Sara 

Before this book, I had never read a novel from a kid who has Asperger's perspective! It was very interesting, to see how her brother's death affected Caitlin and how she handled it. I HIGHLY recommend this book!!!!

Caitlin misses her brother every day. Since his death in a school shooting, she has no one to explain the world to her. And for Caitlin, the world is a confusing place. She hates it when colours get mixed up, prefers everything to be black-and-white, and needs to check her Facial Expressions Chart to understand emotions. So when Caitlin reads the definition of “closure”, she decides that’s what she needs. And as she struggles to find it, a world of colour begins to enter her black-and-white life...

Mockingbird

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