The book Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine is about a girl, Caitlin, with Aspergers Syndrome.

Caitlin lost her mother to cancer and her brother, Devon, in a school shooting. She is left with her dad, who is very sad because of his lost family members. She is grieving her loss while discovering a way to deal with her own emotions. And the rest of the story, we find Caitlin on journey to find CLOSURE. At the beginning, we see Caitlin at home after her brothers funeral. She explains how she feels with so many people around and their interest in helping her with her grief. She is having a hard time trying to deal with her brothers death who used to help her do everything right, such as never do anything wrong. The whole town was shaken by the situation and now everyone is trying to feel better by helping Caitlin, and her father is forcing her to go along with them. Its an overwhelming feeling for Caitlin, who cant go to her hidey hole to feel safe, that Devon made her in his own room. After the funeral, Caitlin went back to school. She felt she didnt fit in since all the kids would look at her weird. The kids in school were aware of her Aspergers/ Autism, but she wasnt. She tried to make friends, but was not successful. Everyone knew what had happened to her brother and the situation did not help her find new friends at school. At school, Caitlin had to go to counseling with Mrs. Brook. She would trust Mrs. Brook and talk to her about everything that was going on in her life. Mrs. Brooks would challenge Caitlin with making friends, deal with her emotions and the process of grieving which Caitlin still did not understand. Mrs. Brook would protect Caitlin from others, such as her gym teacher, who once complained about her dealing with the autistic kids. Caitlin told Mrs. Brook, who made the teacher apologize for her comments. Making friends at school was really difficult for Caitlin. She would described her situation at lunch, were she would be rejected from seating with the popular kids and other tables as well. One day during recess, she met a kid named Michael, who was alone and looked sad and was about to cry. She went over to cheer him up, which was weird with her autism she would know how to cheer him up. She finds herself having things in common with Michael, since he lost his mom in the school shooting as well. At home, Caitlin was alone with her dad who was going through the same process of grieving his loss. He was trying to be strong for her and be as normal as he could. He used to help Devon with his things, but left one in the process, building a chest for his Eagle Scout patch. He covered the unfinished project but Caitlin knew what it was and what it meant to her brother. Caitlin tried to make her dad happy and gives him a new name, Dad-oh. One day, while watching the news and they were talking about the shooting, Caitlin heard the word CLOSURE. When she looked it up in the dictionary, she found the answer to everything and started to look for her own closure to this situation. She decided to finish her brother chest with her dad. Her dad wasnt up to it since he wasnt ready to

deal with that, it was too soon. He ended up finishing it with Caitlin and both felt better and relieved. The loss of a family member is very difficult, especially for Caitlin. She never had to deal with emotions, but in the story she learned how to. What I liked about the story the most was that at the beginning Caitlin saw everything in black and white and gray. She dealt with her grief and found closure as well which was represented in her art. Caitlin at the end of the book found closure and colors. Bibliography: Erskine, Kathryn. Mockingbird. New York: The Penguin Book, 2010

The Masters Academy

Mockingbird By Kathryn Erskine

By Pedro Garcia 8/13/2011