Mockingbird: Book summary and reviews of Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

Mockingbird Summary

In Caitlin’s world, everything is black or white. Things are good or bad. Anything in between is confusing. That’s the stuff Caitlin’s older brother, Devon, has always explained. But now Devon’s dead and Dad is no help at all. Caitlin wants to get over it, but as an eleven-year-old girl with Asperger’s, she doesn’t know how. When she reads the definition of closure, she realizes that is what she needs. In her search for it, Caitlin discovers that not everything is black and white—the world is full of colors—messy and beautiful.

Mockingbird Reviews

"Starred Review. Erskine draws directly and indirectly on To Kill a Mockingbird and riffs on its central theme. Ages 8-12." - Kirkus Reviews

"Starred Review. Although an author's note links the novel with the 2007 tragedy at Virginia Tech, this novel is not about violence as much as about the ways in which a wounded community heals. Ages 10–up." - Publishers Weekly

"Allusions to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the portrayal of a whole community’s healing process, and the sharp insights into Caitlyn’s behavior enhance this fine addition to the recent group of books with narrators with autism and Asbergers. Grades 4-7." - Booklist

"Marred slightly by the portrayal of Devon as a perfect being, this is nonetheless a valuable book." - School Library Journal

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Mockingbird Reader Reviews

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Rated of 5 by angel
mocking bird
I really like it, and I hope there is a movie!

Kathryn Erskine Author Biography

Kathryn Erskine spent many years as a lawyer before realizing that she’d rather write things that people might actually enjoy reading. She grew up mostly overseas and attended eight different schools, her favorite being the Hogwarts-type castle in Scotland. The faculty, of course, did not consist of wizards, although . . . how did the headmistress know that it was “the wee redhead” who led the campaign to free the mice from the biology lab? Erskine draws on her childhood—and her second childhood through her children—for her stories. She still loves to travel but nowadays most trips tend to be local, such as tennis courts, fencing tournaments, occasional emergency room visits, and the natural food store for very healthy organic chocolate with “life...

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