In LOVE with book. I totally recommend! Best book of 2020!

This book was amazing, filled with emotion, reality and humour. Highly recommend.

I really loved this book about 11 year old Caitlyn's efforts to traverse life with not only Autism Spectrum Disorder but with a family that has itself been torn apart by tragedy.
The writing of Erskine is drawn from her experiences with her own ASD daughter, Fiona, and trying to capture elements of her thought processes and ways someone on the ASD spectrum.

Kathryn Erskine’s Mockingbird was indeed a unique book. A former colleague of mine had Aspergers Syndrome and I know that he struggled trying to fit in at work and to be understood.

While I consider myself well read and knowledgeable on Aspergers, this book did give me a view of this disability through the eyes of someone with Aspergers. I do recommend that any person working with someone with Aspergers read this book; it might help you to understand your colleague a little better and help you to be more patient, sympathetic and forgiving when they do not understand some people’s nature, the way they express themselves and what you are really saying.

Any parent dealing with a child with Aspergers should read this book, perhaps it may help you understand the challenges your child experiences in understanding the true meaning behind what they hear. Highly recommended by Senior-Doctor-at-Bass-Fishing! D. A.

Words cannot express how emotion-filled, touching, and eye-opening the 2012 “Mockingbird” novel by Kathryn Erskine was; it was a book that went beyond the ordinary to help mature readers understand what it is truly like to suffer from Asperger syndrome, let alone lose a loved one. “Mockingbird” has a one-of-a-kind plot about an 11-year-old that chooses not to address the fact that she has a disability and is faced with a tragic event that might possibly have a long-term effect on her day-to-day life. It is absolutely heartbreaking yet incredibly conscious, aware, and well-informed of the impact of such emotionally-draining circumstances on the families of the victims of school shootings. Kathryn Erskine expressed the ups and downs of the main character’s emotional road to finding closure, which is simply the word Caitlin, the 11-year-old, found while repetitively reading the dictionary, one of her preoccupations as a child with Asperger syndrome. Overall, this novel was amazingly and expertly written by the author and I would absolutely recommend “Mockingbird” to mature readers looking for a heartfelt read. Rating 3/5.
- @BiggerPictureReviews of the Hamilton Public Library's Teen Review Board

(from my Goodreads review):

Much in the way The Higher Power of Lucky examines adult (in that case, alcoholism/addiction) issues through the lens of a child's naivety, Mockingbird provides a portrait of grief and pain through the eyes of a child on the Autism spectrum. Caitlin (who has Aspergers) and her father (a widower) are working through the loss of her brother Devon after a school shooting.

Caitlin can't connect what she is feeling and experiencing to emotions, or understand the emotions and reactions of people around her, but through her eyes, we see a simple, but vivid, portrait of a parent's grief and the confusion of a community trying to recover from a tragedy. It gets a bit...I'm not sure... meta, maybe? ... as the character herself doesn't understand it and struggles to see it with the help of her school counselor and friend, but through her experience, readers not on the spectrum can see it all clearly.

The book is therefore not only a portrait, but an illustration of the disconnect. It is simultaneously detached and intimate in a way that is almost unsettling. I really appreciated this and Erskine's attempt to create understanding.

It didn't leave me feeling good, but it was thought provoking.

An excellent book if you want to get into the mind of a person with Asperger's.

Characters: 10/10
Plot: 10/10
Writing: 10/10
What an emotionally-loaded book. Many tears were shed, and I don't know that I could re-read it again for a long time, but it was excellent.

thought Cailtin was a great character and I thoroughly enjoyed getting inside her head. It was wonderful to see the story from her perspective and examine how she saw the world. I struggled with the plot because I didn't feel like there was one. I recognize Caitlin's growth in finding Closure and friends and reconciling with her father. But it was slow at points and hard to sink my teeth into. It could be because of the target audience again. I don't know.

What I do know is that I enjoyed Caitlin's examination of the world and of herself. Mrs. Brooks was one of the best characters in the whole thing. I feel like the message of the author, about school shootings, violence and neurodiversity was sometimes a little too distracting, despite it's importance. Caitlin saved the story, or lack there of, for me.

It is a terrific book like "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio or "Firegirl" by Tony Abbott. These books help to challenge us all to live in another person's world for short time. Mockingbird introduces us to Caitlin with Asperger's syndrome. As the story continues, Mockingbird also shows how a family and community are dealing with death and school shootings. In the end, it is a positive story of empathy and trying to understand the concerns/fears of others around us.