Mockingbird Book Report

There are so many types of disabilities in our world and it is important to not categorize people based on their disability. For this project, I choose to read the book Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine. This was a very thought provoking book that kept me engaged the whole time. Mockingbird is the story of a young girl who has Asperger syndrome and her brother was recently shot in a school shooting.Throughout the book, Caitlin struggles to deal with her brothers death and has a hard time talking to anyone about the situation. She does however confide in just a few people, one of them being her school counselor. Caitlin’s counselor, Mrs. Brooks, helps her by getting her to talk and work on her social skills. Soon after beginning to see Mrs. Brooks,
I have always known that their are many types of people and each person deals with a situation in their own way, but after reading this book, I really was able to better understand just how children with disabilities react to certain situations. It was eye-opening to read about the way that this child, who had Asperger syndrome, was trying to tell her story but it was not able to be expressed in words or even emotions. Caitlin’s family, teachers, and friends all wanted to help out but were not sure how. I realized that sometimes you just have to let the person open up on their own time and not try to push them to hard. Each person reacts to circumstances in their own way and we often times just have to wait to see how they will learn to cope with it. Reading Mockingbird was a new experience for myself, as it was the first book that I have read about a child with disabilities and also, I was reading the book with the idea in mind that I am going to be a teacher one day. Throughout the book there were several lessons that I learned about teaching and I believe that I can incorporate some techniques into my own