I'm predicting that MOCKINGBIRD will be one of the best middle-grade/YA novels of the year. While she couldn’t tell me anything in particular that she liked, I can tell you that she read it in one sitting and complained when I interrupted her reading for dinner. My ten-year-old daughter also read MOCKINGBIRD and enjoyed it. Caitlin’s father sometimes behaves selfishly in his own grief. They don’t always Get It when Caitlin is trying to communicate. While understanding Caitlin’s point of view did make me sympathetic toward her, there were also times when I could sympathize more with the other characters’ frustrations with her! But those other characters, especially the adults, also have flaws. They are flawed human beings that the reader can relate to. I also like that neither Caitlin nor the other characters are perfect. You’ve heard that an author should show, not tell? This book is a perfect example rather than telling us what it’s like to have Asperger’s syndrome, Erskine puts the reader squarely inside Caitlin, while also showing us the reactions of people around her. This book is about Caitlin’s search for Closure for herself and for her father.Īuthor Kathryn Erskine does a beautiful job of immersing the reader in what it is like to be Caitlin. Devon's room, all of his things, and his unfinished Eagle Scout project are still in the house, and Caitlin and her father are still haunted by The Day Our Life Fell Apart. She’s recently lost her older brother, and she lives with only her father (her mother also died, of cancer, several years previously). This review is part of an ARC tour from Around the World Tours.Ĭaitlin is a ten-year-old girl with Asperger’s syndrome. MOCKINGBIRD is due out April 15, 2010, and is currently available for pre-order.

Kathryn erskine books