Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the Mimidae family. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession. There are about 17 species in three genera. These do not appear to form a monophyletic lineage: Mimus and Nesomimus are quite closely related; their closest living relatives appear to be some thrashers, such as the sage thrasher. Melanotis is more distinct; it seems to represent a very ancient basal lineage of Mimidae.
The only mockingbird commonly found in North America is the northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos). The Greek word polyglottos means multiple languages.
Mockingbird is a young adult novel by American author Kathryn Erskine about a girl with Asperger syndrome coping with the loss of her brother. It won the 2010 U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
The main character is a girl named Caitlin Smith who has Asperger syndrome and is preoccupied with drawing and dictionaries. She has just experienced the loss of her brother Devon who has been killed along with a teacher and another student at a school shooting. Due to her condition, she finds it difficult to cope with her feelings about what has happened being awkward and pedantic, seeing things in black and white such as referring to her deceased brother as 'Devon who is dead' when talking to her father.
Soon after she discovers the words empathy and closure and determines that this is what she and her distraught father need. With the help of a school counselor and art teacher, although initially being antagonistic, she is able to assist her father, a boy called Michael, whose mother was the teacher who got shot, and the school bully Josh, who is a cousin of the shooter, to cope.
Mockingbird is a science fiction novel by Walter Tevis, published in 1980 by Doubleday. It was nominated for a Nebula Award for Best Novel.
While Tevis was teaching English literature at Ohio University, he became aware that the level of literacy among his students was falling at an alarming rate. That observation gave him the idea for this novel, set in a grim and decaying New York City of the 25th Century: the population is declining, no one can read, and robots rule over the drugged, illiterate humans. With the birth rate dropping, the end of the species seems a possibility.
A central character is the dean of New York University, Spofforth, an android who has lived for centuries yet yearns to die. The novel opens with his failed attempt at suicide. Spofforth brings a teacher, Paul Bentley, to New York. Bentley has taught himself to read after a Rosetta Stone–like discovery of a film with words matching those in a children's primer. Bentley says he could teach others to read, but Spofforth instead gives him a job of decoding the written titles in ancient silent films. At a zoo, Bentley meets Mary Lou, explains the concept of reading to her, and the two embark on a path toward literacy. Spofforth responds by sending Bentley to prison for the crime of reading, and takes Mary Lou as an unwilling housemate. The novel then follows Bentley's journey of discovery after his escape from prison, culminating in his eventual reunion with Mary Lou and their assistance with Spofforth's suicide.
Everybody have you heard (have you heard)
He's gonna buy me a mockingbird (Daddy's gonna buy her a mocking bird)
Woh-oh, if that mockingbird don't sing (And if that mocking bird don't sing)
He's gonna buy me diamond ri-ing (Daddy gonna buy her a diamond ring)
And if that diamond ring won't shine (And if that diamond ring don't shine now)
He's gonna surely break this heart of mine (Surely she will break this heart of mi-i-ine)
That's why (Yes indeed), I kept tellin' you sadly (Oh, yes indeed)
Yeah-eah, eah-eah, woh-woh-woh, I know-ow
I-I-I, I lo-ove him (Everybody have you heard)
But I can't, let him kn-ow (Daddy's gonna buy her a mocking bird)
And I-I-I, I lo-ove him (And if that mockingbird don't sing)
And he says, he's gotta know-ow (Daddy's gonna buy her a diamond ring)
'Cause I-I don't know if I (And if that diamond ring won't shine now)
Make a mistake in love (Surely she will break this heart of mi-i-ine)
And that's why (Yes indeed) I kept tellin' you sadly (Oh, yes indeed)
Yeah-eah, eah-eah, woh-woh-woh, I know-ow
Everybody (Everybody) have you heard (have you heard)
He's gonna buy me a mockingbird (Daddy's gonna buy her a mocking bird)
Woh-oh, if that mockingbird don't sing (And if that mockingbird don't sing)
He's gonna buy me diamond ri-ing (Daddy gonna buy her a diamond ring)
And if that diamond ring don't shine (And if that diamond ring don't shine)
He's gonna surely break this heart of mine (Surely she will break this heart of mine)
And that's why (Yes indeed), I kept tellin' you sadly (Oh, yes indeed)
Yeah-eah, eah-eah, woh-woh-woh, I know-ow
I-I-I, I know that (Everybody have you heard)
That he knows (Daddy gonna buy her a mocking bird) that I car-aree
And I-I-I, I know that (Woh-oh, if that mockingbird don't sing)
That he knows, he knows where (Daddy gonna buy her a diamond ring)
'Cause over and over (And if that diamond ring don't shine now)
Well surely she will break this heart of mi-i-ine (He told her)
And that's why (Yes indeed), I kept tellin' you sadly (Oh yes indeed)
Yeah-eah, eah-eah, woh-woh-woh, I know-ow
Everybody (Everybody) have you heard (Have you heard)
He's gonna buy me a mockingbird (Daddy's gonna buy her a mocking bird)
Woh-oh, and if that mockingbird don't sing (And if that mockingbird don't sing)
He's gonna buy me diamond ring (Daddy's gonna buy her a diamond ring)