Mockingbird Book Club Meeting 4

Our meeting on October 15^th was our last session and we planned to complete the book by this time. We all needed a minute to figure out where to start, other than repeating our agreed opinion that this was an excellent novel. Someone brings up the fact that Caitlin’s gym teacher made a rude comment about how he is always given kids with Autism in his classes. This confused Caitlin because she only knows of one kid in the class with Autism, which was not her. The group agreed that it does not seem as though she has connected that Asperger’s is on the Autism spectrum. Someone else thought maybe Caitlin is in denial that she is on the spectrum. Either way, the whole group was disgusted that the gym teacher would say something like this, especially in front of his students.

I talked to the group about how I was incredibly proud of Caitlin for accepting Michael’s friend Josh, who happens to be cousins with the child that killed Caitlin’s brother and Michael’s mom. This really started to show after Caitlin tried to protect Michael when she sees Josh holding his legs on the monkey bars. In the past, Josh has used grabbing onto legs as a way of bullying other children and making them fall. What Caitlin did not realize was that Josh was just trying to help Michael make it across the monkey bars. When Caitlin tells the boys what she thought she saw, Josh became emotional about how other children viewed him and associated him with his cousin’s actions. Despite her difficulty with reading emotions and comprehending empathy, Caitlin begins to comfort Josh and assure him that it will be fine. The group saw this as a turning point for Caitlin and also evidence that she is trying to form relationships.

 Next we discussed the impact that Caitlin’s friendship with Michael had on her development throughout the book. I never thought about how increasing the positive social interactions would have such a positive influence on the life of a person with Asperger’s. It makes sense that socializing is extremely important. The decision to put Caitlin in an extra recess period with the younger children helped to get rid of the intimidation factor that was likely associated with other kids her age. Being with the younger kids helped her experience acceptance from another child. I said to the group that I thought it was so adorable when Michael called Caitlin a “big sister” and she immediately remembered that this type of relationship is what her and Devon had. She felt proud to have Michael for not only her little brother, but also her friend. Having worked with children on the autism spectrum before, I have seen first hand how difficult it can be when it comes to anxiety with social situations. Seeing this type of improvement with Caitlin makes me want to go find friends for these kids that I care for. This type of improvement, especially after losing her brother, is truly groundbreaking.

To end our discussion, we kept saying that we really enjoyed reading this novel. One of the members mentioned that in the author’s note, it says that the author has a child on the Autism spectrum. This explains how she was able to write so well coming from the perspective of a child with Asperger’s. I told the group that I already ordered my own copy of this book so I can have it to share to others. I think this is a book that many people need to read to better understand the mind of the Autistic. It is way too often that these people are misunderstood and this novel is sure to redirect that judgment. Overall, this book club was great and I enjoyed it much more than I expected. I was often looking forward to our meetings and also thought about what I wanted to bring up as I was reading. This book club experience will certainly not be my last!