Mockingbirds

The Mockingbirds is a story of a girl who was date raped standing up for herself and speaking out.  Through the help of a secret student run disciplinary society she is able to face her attacker and deal with her pain.  Alex was drunk when she was raped and initially has no memory of the incident. 

What I loved about this book is that the blame for the incident was fully placed on the boy.  While there is no doubt that Alex put herself in a bad situation her friends tell her over and over that it was not her fault.  That it is not ok for a guy to sleep with a girl who is so drunk she can't consent or who is sleeping or passed out.

Appropriateness:  This book is appropriate (and important) for high school readers to read independently and for middle schoolers to read with adult to discuss the issues that are presented in the book.  Obviously this book includes drinking and cursing and rape.  However, these things are presented in a manner that makes for a great teaching tool.  The things that each player in the rape did that contributed to the incident are clearly stated and the message is clear as to the many different ways the rape could have been prevented.  The rape scenes are disturbing but not exceedingly so (I found the harassment scenes that happened afterword more disturbing because they rang so true).