Book Review: Rules

In my quest for another clean read to listen to during my treadmill time, I selected Cynthia Lord's Rules. It was a sweet, tender story about life as a sibling of a special needs child. It would make an excellent read-aloud for 3rd to 5th grade classrooms. The author manages to create authentic characters who grow toward maturity.

Twelve-year-old Catherine feels invisible in a family focused on the needs of her younger autistic brother, David. As Catherine struggles to befriend the new girl next door, she attempts to balance her desire for a more normal family with her fierce loyalty and protection of her brother. David struggles with understanding social expectations so Catherine makes a list of rules for him to follow (things like "no toys in the fish tank" and "keep your pants on in public"), alongside her own list of rules about life (rules about deflecting questions and avoiding public dancing). Her rules are tested when she meets Jason, a boy her own age at her brother's therapy center. Jason is wheel-chair bound and cannot speak, yet he provides Catherine with an enduring friendship and pushes her out of her comfort zone.