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.

Mockingbird

Mockingbird

by Kathryn Erskine

(4.5 scoops)

This book does not come out until April 2010 so I can't find a picture of the cover to post here. As of now the book has a light sky blue cover with a few abstract clouds. Centered and about two inches from the top in black ink is the word mockingbird. It is lower case and in a font that resembles a youthful handwriting. A red heart dots the "i". Underneath that, in the same black font, is the phonetic spelling in parenthesis. The author's name is centered at the bottom. The simple and emotionally neutral cover is very appropriate for this book which is about a ten year old girl named Caitlin who has Asperger's Syndrome.

The story is told in first person which presents many challenges, all of which are skillfully and beautifully handled by the author. In reading this book I felt a very strong sense of Caitlin's character as well as the nuances of those around her. The book uses Asperberger's as a way of looking at grief and the hard lesson of learning empathy.