Review: Mockingbird - Kathryn Erskine

Where I got it: ARC from Princess Bookie's Around the World Tours
Rating:  4.5 stars
Cover Rating: 4 stars (I like the pronunciation for the title)
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: April 15, 2010
Publisher: Philomel
Page Count: 235 p.

Caitlin has Asperger's Syndrome and she has lost the one person who understood and was helping her "not act so weird".  Her brother, Devon, was always helping her by telling her what not to do. When he gets shot in a school shooting though, he is gone from her life forever. Now Caitlin has to find her own way to make friends and find closure, even if she needs a little help from her counselor.

This was a very touching novel. I had mistaken this for The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney, which is a very different story. I was not disappointed by this one though. This novel really got inside the head of someone who looks at the world a little differently than most people. It talks about loss and how much it affects everyone in a community and how some people have a harder time getting on afterward. Kathryn did an excellent job capturing the children's grief and Caitlin's journey into finding closure. I loved the relationship with Caitlin and her father. In the book she compares them(after her brother has) to Atticus and Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird. Her father is definitely strong like Atticus because you can see how hard it is for him to cope with the loss of his wife and son while taking care of Caitlin. He is very patient. This book should be a must read for any middle school or high school student. It has so many good aspects that will help people not only understand Asperger's but also to understand how everyone feels grief a little differently.

First Line:
"It looks like a one-winged bird crouching in the corner of our living room."

Favorite Line:
"I push my head farther under the sofa cushion but it doesn't swallow me up like I want it to."