Blog Post - Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

         I read the book, Mockingbird, by Kathryn Erskine and it was beautifully written. This book is written in the first person point of view of a fifth grader named Caitlin. She was diagnosed with a disorder called Asperger's syndrome. Caitlin and her father go through a hard time after the death of Caitlin's brother, Devon. This was the conflict: Caitlin and her father couldn’t cope with the death in their family. After Caitlin reads the definition of the word, "closure" in her dictionary, she was ambitious to achieve closure. Closure is resolution after a difficult event to deal with, like a death/loss of someone close to you. On Caitlin's journey to closure, she learns many things on her way there. She learns that closure isn't found when she completes her goal; she earns closure on her way to closure. Being a mentally challenged little girl, Caitlin discovers/learns emotional suffering. She also learns how to act in life without Devon, who usually assisted her whenever she misunderstood things. 

To begin, Caitlin masters the tactics to deal with life. With the help of the guidance counselor, Caitlin figures out how to communicate with others formally and using expressions. She also learns how to be polite, have a conversation, walk with people, and more. For instance, before Caitlin had help, she didn’t know how to manage a conversation. In the book when Mrs. Brook was questioning Caitlin, Caitlin responded with “I don’t know,” four out of the five times she answered (13). However, after Caitlin becomes accustomed to public life on her journey to closure, she’s able to communicate with others properly and through her new friends. For example, Caitlin makes a new friend named Michael, who’s in the first grade, and she showed him some impressive things, like burping the ABCs, new words, and manners. Michael introduces Caitlin to his other friends, which increased Caitlin’s publicity, letting her learn the life with others I public (94-95).

Furthermore, Caitlin learns how closure is really achieved. At first, she figured that completing Devon’s chest would earn closure for Caitlin and her father. For instance, after Caitlin figured out how to finish Devon’s chest, she said, “I found Closure but I still have to Work At It” (154). She misunderstood how achieving closure worked and thought if I do this I’ll get closure. However, Caitlin reached closure because of the right events that occurred during her journey to closure. Day by day, Mrs. Brook would try to teach Caitlin to feel and show emotion so others could know what she was trying to express. In the beginning of the book, Caitlin wouldn’t feel for Devon and how his death actually impacted her. She didn’t misunderstood how to feel and why others were impacted like her but she just wanted to stay away from everyone (13). However, after Caitlin became ambitious to reach closure, she began to make friends and show emotion like people wanted her to. Caitlin started expressing herself with drawings, emotions, and more, which attracted more friends. By the time the chest was done, Caitlin was happy with her life the way it was.

Lastly, the theme of this book is being able to learn to deal with a hard situation by trying to reach closure. Caitlin and her father had courage and went head-on to finish their goal of completing Devon’s chest. Overall, Mockingbird was a wonderfully crafted book.