Rules

Lord, C. (2008). Rules. New York: Scholastic.

Catherine is a twelve year old girl who has a brother named David who has autism. Catherine want to be normal, bet everytime she tries David does something that embarasses her. Through it all Catherine loves David, and hates it when people stare at her brother, give him weird looks, or make fun of him. She has developed a set of rules that David need to learn, and writes them down in her notebook to periodically remind him. These rules are common sense to the average person, but not for David. One day a new girl moves in next door, and Catherine cooks up a plan to make the perfect first impression. Regarless of her efforts, David of course ruins it, and Catherine's dreams of having the perfect next door friend is ruined. To her surprise Kristi, the neighbor, comes over and they build a friendship over time. When Catherine goes to therapy with David, she meets a boy named Jason, who is uses a wheel chair and can not speak. She builds a relationship with him, and introduces him to new words that she illustrates for his communication binder. Jason's world changes when Catherine come into his life, he is suddenly motivated to do things for himself. Although Catherine enjoys spending time with him, she is once again caught in a web of wanting to be normal. It is ok to hang out with Jason at therapy, but she does not want to be seen with him anywhere else. At Jason's birthday party, he asks her to the community dance, this is when she unknowingly hurts his feelings. On the drive home she realizes that she is no better than all the people who make fun of her brother and give him strange looks. She calls Jason and asks his mom to please take him to the dance. She waits for him and is excited when he finally shows up. She apologizes to him, and breaks one of her rules in the process. She dances with Jacob in a room with light, for the whole world to see. Catherine realizes that normal is just a word, and what matters to her is David, her family, and friends. This is definetly a book that middle school kids will relate to. This book draws on the stuggles that this age group goes through in order to feel accepted. Catherine's feeling are raw and she struggles with the same wants and desires of kids her age around the world. The book does a wonderful job at giving students a first hand look at the world of an autistic child, and provides oportunities for the teacher to build awarness through research. All children is grades 3rd grade and up can benefit from getting a glimpse into Davids world. Not only does this book bring awarness to the autistic community, but it lends itself beautifully to a wide range of activities in the language arts setting.