Mockingbird: Guest Review

I'm happy to welcome Ashley from Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing back to the blog, for another Psychtember guest review! She's sharing her reaction to Mockingbird.

The young protagonist of Kathryn Erskine's Mockingbird is Caitlin, an 11 year old girl with Asperger's Syndrome. Caitlin views the world in a strong dichotomy of yes or no, black and white and her world view really allows for no grey area. She has always relied on her older brother to help her understand the world. When he suddenly dies Caitlin is left feeling adrift. She's lost her compass and has no idea what to do or how to feel. After reading about closure in her dictionary, she tries to find some. 

Disorders on the Autism Spectrum (including Asperger's) are incredibly complex, unique and varied and they are also something that, try as we might, we don't have much understanding of. We can try to learn more about the individuals who have a disorder, but really, our knowledge and understanding is always going to be limited. And it's going to be different for every single person. 

Because of that, I always have a hard time judging whether or not a book that has an character or narrator on the Autism Spectrum is realistic or accurate. Because I can't know for sure. All I can say is whether or not I found it to be authentic or believable. And in this book, I found myself fully inside Caitlin's mind, struggling with her as she tried to relearn how to be when her whole world has ruptured and she's lost the one person who used to be able to reach her. She was so lost and so confused through much of the book and my heart really went out to her. Especially because she doesn't understand things in the same way that everyone else does and she doesn't really know how to communicate or relate to people on a the same level as someone with a 'normal' development pattern. 

I'll admit that it's been a while since I read this book and some of the specifics and details aren't as clear as they would have been if I'd read it more recently, but what I do still have are the impressions and feelings I got reading the book. And the emotional memories tell me, that no matter the flaws this book may have, it is a book worth reading, especially if you are interested in reading books that deal with mental illness. I think it's an important addition and I love that it's written for a middle grade audience. That's an age group I think it's really important to teach empathy to, and empathy is a huge part of Caitlin's learning process. 

I will say that the book had a tendency to get on the preachy side. There's an entire part of the story that is devoted to the tragic way her brother was killed. And the book is really short. It's a quick read, and I just thought that having an entire portion of the book devoted to the tragedy as a whole was too much when we were also supposed to be focusing on Caitlin and I couldn't quite decide if Erskine wanted to write a 'tragedy' book or a 'mental health' book. If the book had been longer, it could have worked. But trying to give proper attention to both things doesn't work as well in a novel of this size and complexity. 

However, I don't think that should deter anyone from reading this book. It's definitely a book I would recommend to people wanting another perspective in trying to understand the Autism Spectrum and you might be surprised by how much a little girl who doesn't really understand much about feelings can make you feel.

Ashley has been fascinated by the mind since before she can remember and decided long before college that Psychology would be her field of study. She received a BS in Psychology and is currently deciding where it should take her next. Ashley would like it to be made clear that she is not an expert in the field, and that the thoughts and feelings expressed are hers derived from both academic and personal study and experience.  

Thanks very much for sharing your thoughts on Mockingbird, Ashley! 

Readers — have you read this one? What did you think of how it portrays Asperger's Syndrome?

In My Mailbox (37)

In this meme, hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren, we share the books we've received, bought or taken out from the library.

For review:

 Fox & the Peach by Nick Thaler

Bought:

Incredibly Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (got this one for just $1!)

From library:

Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer
Kiss It by Erin Downing
Young Sherlock Holmes: Death Cloud by Andrew Lane

Guest Post: Agreeableness in YA Characters (OCEAN #4)

This is the fourth in the series of guest posts about personality traits in YA characters from Najela of Brave New Adventure! She's talked about openness, conscientiousness, and extraversion in her previous posts.

A stands for agreeableness which refers to people who are pleasant and friendly, and well, agreeable. Agreeableness, like extraversion, seems to be incredibly varied and situationally based. People who are on the opposite end of the spectrum tend to be less pleasant and friendly, but that doesn't mean that they aren't or can't be. In nearly all of the personality traits, these are just the natural tendency that people tend to fall into. None of these are fixed.

Agreeable characters in young adult novels are typically going  to the generally nice and relatable characters, pleasant to be around, relatively sociable, and fun to be around. They might be the people pleasers, the ones who can never say no, or sacrifice themselves for other people in the story. Most characters in young adult novels have to have a certain level of agreeableness, not many people want to read about overtly rude or unpleasant people. Not to say that characters can't be rude, but most people read characters that could be real people. So they can have their moments, but if a characters were unexplicably rude for no reason, a reader might be turned off and ultimately put the book down.

Characters who don't start off agreeable, the crux of their conflict is to be more aggreeable. And vice versa. Some of my favorite examples of this trait are shown in Bianca from The Duff and Anna from Anna and the French Kiss.


I chose Bianca because she's cynical, sometimes rude and mean, and definitely not always agreeable as far as traits are concerned. She's been burned by love before and is hesistant to start a new love. She's not very nice to anyone, but experiences with her parents divorce, using sex as a distraction, and taking her friends for granted allow her to mature and see the error of her ways. She's still not completely aggreeable, nor does she have to be, but she is more aggreeable to the people in her inner circle-- her parents, her friends, and a certain special someone.


I choose Anna because she is generally aggreeable, pleasant to be around, friendly and charismatic (when she finally gets comfortable with everyone), but she goes through periods of time when she closes herself off to people who care about her and doesn't see the people who are willing to talk with her about her problems (there's one scene in particular where Anna is confronted by her other friends that she ignored during some of her rough times that sticks out to me). After Anna survives her ordeal and *spoiler alert* gets the guy, she is back to her old self, but wiser, and more mature.

As with the previous post, think of how this trait would interact with other traits. What about a character who is low on conscientiousness but high on agreeableness? How do you think they would act? Think about some of your own characters or your favorite characters in books? How do you think they'd fair on the agreeability scale? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Najela is a recent graduate from UC Riverside with a dual degree in Psychology and Creative Writing. She is actively trying to combine the two majors while working as a Behavioral Interventionist for children that have autism. She is current pursuing a Master's Degree in Exceptional Student Education and working on an illustrated college guidebook set to release hopefully by (late) November 2011. You can follow her at her website or her tumblr. 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on agreeableness as a trait in YA characters, Najela!

Forget-Me-Nots: Dare to Be, M.E.!

 

Forget-Me-Nots is a feature on my blog for highlighting books I enjoyed in childhood and the teenage years that I don't see getting much attention nowadays.

This is another Psychtember edition of Forget-Me-Nots!

Dare to Be, M.E.! by Anne LeMieux

From Goodreads: 

"Mary Ellen hardly knows her best friend Justine. After a year in France, Justine has returned to start junior high, convinced that she needs a new image. She has a new haircut, wearing tons of makeup, crazy clothes, and looks much older. She's so out of touch with reality it's almost funny. Except Mary Ellen doesn't realize that her friend's crazy new image is part of a much more serious problem."

This was one of my favourite books when I was younger (probably when I was about 10 or 11, since it's an MG novel). I think it's probably one of the first books I read that dealt with a character who is bulimic, and I really enjoyed seeing how its effect on the girls' friendship is portrayed. The main character Mary Ellen is very relatable, as are her ups and downs with Justine, school, and first love.

Has anyone else read this one?

George Harrar Interview & Giveaway!

Janet Ruth Young, author of The Babysitter Murders, has done her second in a set of interviews for Psychtember, with authors of YA books involving obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This one is with George Harrar about his book Not As Crazy As I Seem! So be sure to check it out on Janet's blog here!

Then come back and enter the giveaway I'm hosting for a SIGNED paperback copy of Not As Crazy As I Seem.

Rules:

• Entrants must be 13 years or older.
• Open to US/Canada only (as per author's request)
• Tweeting and following are not required but much appreciated.
• One entry per person
• Winner will be selected randomly and contacted by e-mail for their address, which will then be passed on to the author, who'll ship out the prize.
• Ends Oct. 5 at 11:59 pm EDT.

This contest is now closed.

Thanks very much to George Harrar for providing the prize!