“Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”
Mockingbird is a story told from the perspective of the main character Caitlin, who suffers from aspergers and has to learn to deal with the emotional pain of losing her brother to a school shooting. This is a wonderfully written book that shows us Caitlin’s difficulties relating with other people, especially her father. Once the only person who understands her is killed though, we see Caitlin transform and start to “rebuild” the relationship that she has with him (pun - intended J ) We see their relationship grow stronger as she makes an effort to work with her father to finish a chest that her brother and father was working on. The ending really makes the whole story so beautiful!
Reading Level: 4.8
Readers- Below are a few links that can help you teach this book to your own class or child!
- This is a create website that talks about the themes that exist throughout the book, and what each of them mean. While discussing the different themes, it also makes you use some critical thinking as it asks questions such as “what would you do in this situation.”
- This is a great article and website that can be read in the classroom to expand the knowledge and lessons that were just learned in the reading of Mockingbird. It talks about what causes school’s to have shooting and what precautions students can make and different help lines that are out their if one is feeling overwhelmed.
Vocabulary: Some words that might need to be pre-taught include Principal, Principle, Effusive, Extroverted, Gregarious, Introverted, Woodworking and Router.
Activities:
Before Reading:
Talk with the students about what a school shooting is, along with what it means if someone had asbergers. Understanding these two things before reading the book wil help the students better comprehend what is going on through out the story.
During reading:
Have the students idependently read and write down different ways they see Caitlin trying to cope with the lose of her brother, and the different ways she tries to express herself.
After Reading:
Each student can read aloud the techniques they saw Caitlin use to try to deal with the stress she was dealing with. Once each student has had the opportunity to read what they write, have each student brainstorm an activity for themselves that would help them de-stress in a situation where they, themselves feel overwhelmed.
Erskine, K. (2010). Mockingbird (Mok'ing-bûrd). New York: Philomel Books.
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