Caitlin and her Father’s world is forever changed “The Day That Our Life Changed Forever.” Most things are confusing to Caitlin, but her brother used to help her try to understand things, try to “Get It.” Now her brother is dead, and Caitlin does not know how she is supposed to feel. This is mainly because she has Asperger’s Syndrome and she has a very difficult time making friends and feeling empathy for others. Caitlin’s story is about her journey to find empathy and closure for what has happened to her family. Caitlin tells her story from her point of view and it is an honest, heartfelt story about a young girl trying to find her peace while living with a pervasive developmental disorder. This is a relatively short book, 232 pages exactly, but what is large is the heart of this story. Caitlin was an extremely well developed character and she makes you laugh and cry in a matter of a page. What I loved about this book was how honest it was about Autism Spectrum Disorder in a book that is writing for upper elementary or middle school students. This is a relatable story for many children that are in the classroom with people who have disabilities and this book may help rehabilitate their thinking about people with disabilities to something that is much more empathetic in nature. I really loved this book and I would read it aloud to a classroom or school wide that were dealing with a crisis like the one that Caitlin deals with throughout the entire novel. I found myself wanting to know more about what the other characters were going through, but it was much more realistic that Caitlin did not have all of the answers or was omniscient in any way because of her communication abilities. I just found this book to be very realistic because I can see some of my friends who have Autism or Asperger’s thinking like Caitlin did. This novel speaks to the evil and good in all of human kind and that we have the power to overcome the negative experiences that happen in the world and come together to create a better tomorrow. This book is uplifting in that, through all of the heartache that Caitlin and her family and the community endured throughout this book they come to help each other and be stronger and better than they were before. I think I would like to read more Kathryn Erskine books because she wrote very well for an upper elementary audience, and I think that these students would like to listen or read stories like this in their childhood, it may even prevent things like what happened from happening again. At least we can hope. But for now, I would very highly recommend this book for someone to read. And did I mention, it is a National Book Award Winner!
This is a relatively short book, 232 pages exactly, but what is large is the heart of this story. Caitlin was an extremely well developed character and she makes you laugh and cry in a matter of a page. What I loved about this book was how honest it was about Autism Spectrum Disorder in a book that is writing for upper elementary or middle school students. This is a relatable story for many children that are in the classroom with people who have disabilities and this book may help rehabilitate their thinking about people with disabilities to something that is much more empathetic in nature.
I really loved this book and I would read it aloud to a classroom or school wide that were dealing with a crisis like the one that Caitlin deals with throughout the entire novel. I found myself wanting to know more about what the other characters were going through, but it was much more realistic that Caitlin did not have all of the answers or was omniscient in any way because of her communication abilities. I just found this book to be very realistic because I can see some of my friends who have Autism or Asperger’s thinking like Caitlin did. This novel speaks to the evil and good in all of human kind and that we have the power to overcome the negative experiences that happen in the world and come together to create a better tomorrow. This book is uplifting in that, through all of the heartache that Caitlin and her family and the community endured throughout this book they come to help each other and be stronger and better than they were before.
I think I would like to read more Kathryn Erskine books because she wrote very well for an upper elementary audience, and I think that these students would like to listen or read stories like this in their childhood, it may even prevent things like what happened from happening again. At least we can hope. But for now, I would very highly recommend this book for someone to read. And did I mention, it is a National Book Award Winner!