Book 1: Realistic Fiction
Mockingbird (mok’ing-bûrd) by Katherine Erskine
Bibliography:
Erskine, K. (2010). Mockingbird (mok’ing-bûrd). New York: Philomel Books.
Summary:
The book is about a girl named Caitlin that has lost her brother. She is trying to get through it with her father but as a 10 year old with Asperger’s she is having a hard time. She wants to be left alone, but her Dad wants her to get out. It’s hard for her to face the world, since Devon use to help her be "normal". Now it's just her and her Dad since her mother died of cancer some time back. She struggles with everyone trying to help her, because she doesn’t know how to act. She takes everything literally and has trouble understanding emotions. She takes comfort in facts and her dictionary. Mrs. Brooks, her counselor, tries to teach her to understand people. A student, Josh, that use to be in Caitlin’s class is the cousin to the shooter. They have a confrontation when he misunderstands her. She starts having recess with the smaller kids because they are easier to understand and makes a friend named Michael. He lost his mom, a teacher, in the shooting. The shooting took a teacher and two students. Caitlin hears the word closure on the news and wants it for her family. Ms. Brooks tries to get her to learn empathy to see how other people feel so she can understand how to approach them. For closure she decides to finish Devon’s heart model he was working on for Scouts, but her father is not ready to deal with it. Josh ends up being Michael’s friends too, and together they help Josh who is also going through difficult emotions. Caitlin’s Dad has allowed them to work on the chest she decides she will work harder to make friends and work in a groups.
My Impression:
This book was wonderful. The short chapters, the short sentences, and the capitalization of phrases help the reader understand the mindset of Caitlyn. For example - Get It. Look At The Person. Work At It. The Day Our Life Fell Apart. The writing gives us insight to Asperger's Syndrome. Although, the books does contain the school shooting as part of the story the main theme is empathy. Asperger's forces Caitlyn to understand how others feel, since she does not pick up on social cues. Although, the main character is an elementary students I think that it might be more beneficial for someone in middle school. People with Asperger's tend to have a high intelligence so the narrator's thoughts can be complex at times.
Reviews
“Ten-year-old Caitlyn
hates recess, with all its noise and chaos, and her kind, patient counselor,
Mrs. Brooks, helps her to understand the reasons behind her discomfort, while offering
advice about how to cope with her Asperger’s Syndrome, make friends, and deal
with her grief over her older brother’s death in a recent school shooting. She eschews
group projects in class, claiming that she doesn’t need to learn how to her
along with others, but solitude is neither good for her or her grieving father,
and when Caitlyn hears the term closure,
she turns to her on trusty friend, her dictionary, and sets out on a mission to
find it for both of them. Along the way, Caitlyn makes many missteps, but
eventually she does achieve the long-sought closer with great finesse, which is
another of her favorite vocabulary words. 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 Aspergers.” – Booklist
Dobrez, C. (2010).
Mockingbird, Booklist, 106(12), 78.
“From inside Caitlin's head, readers see the very
personal aftermath of a middle school shooting that took the life of the older
brother she adored. Caitlin is a bright fifth grader and a gifted artist. She
also has Asperger's syndrome, and her brother, Devon, was the one who helped
her interpret the world. Now she has only her father, a widower who is grieving
anew and whose ability to relate to his daughter is limited. A compassionate
school counselor works with her, trying to teach her the social skills that are
so difficult for her. Through her own efforts and her therapy sessions, she
begins to come to terms with her loss and makes her first, tentative steps
toward friendship. Caitlin's thought processes, including her own brand of
logic, are made remarkably clear. The longer readers spend in the child's
world, the more understandable her entirely literal and dispassionate
interpretations are. Marred slightly by the portrayal of Devon as a perfect
being, this is nonetheless a valuable book. After getting to know Caitlin,
young people's tendencies to label those around them as either "normal"
or "weird" will seem as simplistic and inadequate a system as it
truly is.” – School Library Journal Brautigam, F. (2010). Mockingbird. School Library Journal, 56(4), 154-156.
Use in Classroom Setting:
Students discuss how empathy played a role in Mockingbird. They investigate the importance of empathy and its role in different situations. They complete a role play activity in order to recognize the emotional state of others. In the end they discuss the need for empathy in society.
Book 2: Realistic Fiction
Confetti Girl by Diana López
Bibliography:
López, D. (2009). Confetti girl. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Co.
Summary:
Lina (Apolonia) is a middle school 7th grader who feels awkward with her tall skinny frame. What’s making her life harder is that she only lost her mother about a year ago and her father, a high school English teacher, is drowning himself in books instead of helping her get through it. Her best friend Vanessa lives right across the street from her and she is also going through some troubles as her parents got a divorce about three years ago. Her mother, Irma, has taken to making dozens of casarones, confetti eggs, as therapy. Irma has become a sort of a man hater because of the her ex-husband has taken up with a new younger woman. The girls decide to mail Ms. Cantu anonymous love letters so she will lighten up. The girls have their own love lives flourishing Lina with a smart boy with a stuttering problem named Luis and Vanessa with Carlos. Lina feels that Vanessa is abandoning her in her time of need, because she only wants to spend time with Carlos. Lina's grades start to suffer and her attitude gets bad, so she is taken away from the sports she loves. A counselor, Miss Kathryn, encourages Lina to finish a story she has written about what’s going on her life. After her father reads the story they make an effort to start moving forward. In the end the go to Vanessa’s house and crack all the cascarones as they let our all their frustrations with each other and life.
My Impression:
I really enjoyed this book, it felt like a quick read. The dichos, Mexican sayings, are wonderfully placed within the book. The writing was humorous especially the way the girls interact. I don’t know if it’s because I’m Hispanic that I connect with the book but I believe any young girl can relate to the situations presented in the story.
Reviews:
"Living in Corpus Christi, Texas, sixth-grader Lina Flores, along with her father, is trying to put her life back together following her mother’s death. To divert herself, she and her best friend, Vanessa, write Vanessa’s recently divorced mom love poems under the name Silver Fox. Meanwhile, the girls have romances of their own; Lina has set her heart on a classmate with a speech impediment, while Vanessa sneaks around with her boyfriend to evade her disapproving mother. Misunderstandings a bound when Lina reacts to her father’s seeming absence, as well as her own grief, by doing poorly in school, but fortunately a supportive counselor helps pull her through. López effectively portrays the Texas setting and the characters’ Latino heritage; Vanessa’s mother deals with her divorce by obsessively making Mexican cascarones—confetti-filled eggshells—and Spanish is sprinkled throughout. This debut novel puts at its center a likable girl facing realistic problems." - Booklist (Gr. 3 - 7)
Williams, B. (2009). Confetti Girl. Booklist, 105(18), 40.
“Lina attends middle school in Corpus Cristi, TX, has a crush on classmate Luís, loves science and sports, and has a sock obsession as a result of her pants never being long enough for her tall body. Her best friend, Vanessa Cantu, lives across the street with her mother, who is still bitter about a divorce that happened a few years earlier. Lina's mother died last year, and her father is still grieving but struggling to live up to his responsibilities. Dichos, Spanish sayings or proverbs, are translated at the top of every chapter. Spanish phrases are sprinkled throughout the text, reflecting Lina's bilingual community. The budding romance, and typical middle school events such as detention, lunchroom disasters, and reports, keep things moving. Lina is essentially a sunny, happy child and her sadness and anger are more blips on the radar than real angst. A subplot about Luís's stuttering seems extraneous. Quite typical in characters, plot, and style, this story is most notable for its casual introduction to Spanish language and culture, overtly accessible to all.” – School Library Journal (Gr. 4 - 8)
Edwards, C. A. (2009). Confetti Girl. School Library Journal, 55(7), 88.
Use in Classroom Setting:
Discuss the Mexican dichos spread throughout Confetti Girl, discuss what they mean. Take some of the proverbs in the book or use other popular proverbs and construct new endings. Have the students explain their reason behind their new proverbs and their choice of words.
Students read Confetti Girl and examine her difficulty dealing with loss. Students discuss why Lina behaved a certain way. The students discuss handling behaviors associated with grief and loss. They identify the steps of grief and loss process. They also have a chance to talk about other literary characters that cope with loss.
