Mockingbird

"In hopes that we may all understand each other better." - Kathryn Erskine

This weekend I read the book 'Mockingbird' by Kathryn Erskine.
Its audience is late-elementary and early middle-school children, but I'd recommend it for everyone to read.

It's the story of a 10 year old girl, Caitlin, with Asperger's. Her brother was recently killed in a senseless school shooting. He was her protector, her only friend - she played Scout to his Jem (To Kill a Mockingbird).

Caitlin struggles to understand the emotions and feelings of the people around her. The book beautifully portrays how a person with Asperger's syndrome doesn't see some things that we think are obvious - such as voice inflection, sarcasm, literal and figurative meanings of words, and empathy.

It is a genuinely touching book (National Book Award winner for Young People's Literature) with a great afterword by the author.