Empathy

Congratulations to Kathrine Erskine- winner of the National Book Award for Young People's Literature for the book Mockingbird. I reviewed this book last year and knew it was destined to be a big success!

Having worked with high school students for the last 12 years, I can say that, Asperger's or not, empathy is sorely missing from so many young people in our schools today. Lately, bullying amongst kids and teens has been in the news and I think that books like Mockingbird can go a long way toward helping young people feel empathy for those around them. Yes, there needs to be policy and consequences for threatening or teasing in schools, but we also need to focus our resources on building communities that value empathy, kindness, praise, and love. And literature is an effective way to start doing just that.

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