RULES

RULES

Author: Cynthia Lord

Type: Novel (Ages 9-12)

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Summary: Twelve year old Catherine tells her story of how she spends a summer unlike any she has ever had.  Her summer consists of keeping track of her 8 year old brother who has autism, trying to become friends with a new neighbor, and most importantly developing a friendship that she never expected.

Follow the Rules...  Seems like an easy task for most, but for David, Catherine's brother in the novel RULES, following rules is something he struggles with.  I particularly liked how Catherine explained the set of rules she kept for her brother and introduced them throughout the novel within each new chapter. Because the story is told in Catherine’s perspective, I feel that it is interesting to see how her life is impacted by a family member who has austism and how her family’s life revolves so much around her brother for this reason. I really felt that the hardships she faces throughout the novel are really important and meaningful to the whole story. I really enjoyed how the book was able to bring me, as the reader, to feel so many different emotions through each chapter. I sometimes felt angry, sad, and delighted, all while remaining so captivated by the text. In my opinion Lord did a fabulous job of interesting me within the first chapter which kept me wanting to read the whole book in one sitting! I really couldn’t put the book down! I would really hope for other readers to feel the same!

Posing this question: “How do rules impact us on a daily basis?” could potentially begin an in depth conversation about the rules that we experience in everyday life. Talking about where these rules came from, how they impact us, are the rules fair, or what could we do to come up with rules that we really need. Our students could benefit from reading this book and having a conversation about the different topics brought up in the book and how they felt about them, too.