BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSTen-year-old Caitlin Smith has Asperger's syndrome, and the world has always been hard to read, but she had her older brother Devon to guide her through it. Then a school shooting takes Devon's life, and Caitlin is left trying to make sense of grief, friendship, and a concept she finds in the dictionary called "closure." With her father barely holding together and her school counselor Mrs. Brook working to help her connect with people her own age, Caitlin sets out to figure out what closure means and how to find it, drawing constantly in her black-and-white way of seeing, meeting a little first grader named Michael, and zeroing in on Devon's unfinished Eagle Scout chest sitting under a grey sheet in the corner of the living room.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Mockingbird
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about Mockingbird. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book is a half-finished wooden chest covered with a grey sheet in the living room?
✓ Answer
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
Devon's unfinished Eagle Scout project sits in the corner of the living room. To Caitlin it looks like a one-winged bird crouching there, and the sheet flutters whenever the heat pump kicks on. The chest becomes the central symbol of everything left undone after Devon's death.
- First half
In what book does a girl look up "closure" in her dictionary and decide to make it her mission?
✓ Answer
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
The dictionary defines closure as the state of experiencing an emotional conclusion to a difficult life event. Caitlin decides she and Dad need this and asks everyone how to find it. The hunt for closure becomes the engine of the whole story.
- First half
In what book does a little boy say "I'll be seven! That's old" about his birthday?
✓ Answer
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
Michael tells Caitlin his birthday is in October or November, whichever has Halloween. He thinks turning seven is ancient. Caitlin, who is about to turn eleven, decides to use finesse instead of telling him that seven is still a baby.
- Second half
In what book does a girl crash her bike because she hears sirens and thinks there's another shooting?
✓ Answer
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
Rachel Lockwood comes into class with a scratched purple face after wiping out near the middle school. The injuries become Caitlin's first big chance to practise empathy, and she fails it spectacularly when she tells Rachel her face looks gross.
- Second half
In what book does a girl draw her first portrait of a man but leave the eyes blank?
✓ Answer
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
When Mr. Walters lets Caitlin try drawing him, she captures everything but his eyes. He calls it amazing and hands the eyeless picture to her. She later tapes it up in Devon's room next to her eagle drawing, the first face she has ever drawn.
- Near the end
In what book does a PE teacher apologize by wearing a dodgeball bib like a scarf?
✓ Answer
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
After Mrs. Brook talks to Mr. Mason, he apologizes to Caitlin and decides he should be the one to wear the bib. It only fits as a scarf around his neck, the class laughs, and he winks at Caitlin. She thinks he's learned a little finesse.
