Mockingbird

My colleague and two of her graduate students led a community event last night over the reading of Kathryn Erskine's MOCKINGBIRD. I read it in Chicago and fell in love with it. When I arrived to the book talk it was all 6th grade students. I had to laugh. I thought it would be all adults. Even so, the kids ran the show and had brilliant insight. I also loved that many generations discussed the book together, transcending the barriers of school/out-of-school literacy.

The middle school book is about a young woman with Asperger's who is trying to help her father (and herself) come to terms with the emotional loss of her brother who was killed in a school shooting. Written from the perspective of the young girl, the text does a phenomenal job addressing ways to bring closure to tragedies, but it also introduces the pure integrity of a child who is labeled on the spectrum.

I was impressed by how well the author made the character a strong role model for youth. I say, "MUST READ" peeps.