Review: Caterpillar Summer

Caterpillar Summer by Gillian McDunn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Cat's summer plans get turned upside down when her best friend ends up in India visiting his sick grandmother. Instead of spending time with her friend, her mom dumps Cat and her brother Chicken off with her grandparents. The thing is, Cat has never even met her grandparents. She isn't sure why, but she knows that there is a riff between her mom and her grandparents, and now she is spending three weeks on a North Carolina island with them.

Cat normally spends most of her time looking after her little brother. Chicken is different from other kids his age. While we never get an actual diagnosis, Chicken reminds me of my son with autism. He's a runner; he doesn't like loud noises; he has very fixated interests (this kid loves sharks), and Cat is one of the only people who knows how to take care of him. Since their father died, Cat has really had to grow up, and she is starting to resent the fact that her mother just expects her to be a second parent to Chicken.

Cat's time on the island with her grandparents makes her realize how much she has been missing: not just a relationship with her extending family but also the chance to be a kid herself. She needs time without having to worry about Chicken so she can enjoy her own childhood, and her grandparents step up for her in a way that her mom hasn't been able to do.

I absolutely loved Gillian McDunn's writing and the way she accurately portrayed the life of a child with a special needs sibling. My husband and I constantly worry about our daughter. She is five, and her seven-year-old brother has Autism Spectrum Disorder. Instead of being treated like the baby of the family, she is often forced to act like a "big sister." Her brother needs her in ways that I cannot begin to explain to her, and I know that he will always need her. What I fear is that she will one day resent him and even us for all the times that she has had to put his needs first. When she is old enough to read to this book, I will definitely share it with her because I think she will need to be reminded that she is lucky to have a brother who loves her so fiercely, even if it isn't always easy to be his little sister.



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