16. Rules by Cynthia Lord

 

16. Rules by Cynthia Lord

Rules (Book, 2006) [WorldCat.org]

Lord, C. (2008). Rules. NY: Scholastic.

This is a story about 12-year-old Catherine. All she wants is a normal life, but her brother has autism.  She and her parents must watch him constantly, which makes it hard for her to do normal pre-teen activities.  She spends a lot of time teaching David rules to keep him from embarrassing her.  The story centers around the summer she meets Jason and Kristi.  Jason is mute and in a wheelchair.  she meets him at the doctor’s office where David does his Occupational Therapy.  Kristi is her new neighbor and the potential neighborhood friend she always wanted. Catherine is so caught up in her own worries, she doesn’t realize her own behavior is what is driving her new friends away.

This story has good conflict/resolution elements.  The one major conflict in the story is presented at the beginning-how does Catherine be a normal teenager with an autistic brother? As the story continues, she meets characters that question her idea of “normal”.  First there is Jason.  He is mute and in a wheelchair.  He communicates by using picture cards in a book.  She feels a connection to him because he knows what it’s like to be “not normal”.   As their friendship grows, they find they have a lot in common-their love of art and music.  Then there is Kirsti.  Catherine feels Kristi is her shot at having normal teenage experiences.  She tries to shield Kristi from her brother and Jason.  She never invites Kristi into her world of interacting with special needs people and it eventually pushes her away.  The climax is the day of the Jason’s birthday party and the community dance.  Does she go to Jason’s party?  Does she invite him to the dance?  Does she invite David to either event? How will Kristi react to Jason? To David? What if David embarrasses her?  When she goes to the dance without Jason or Kristi, but with her Father and David.  She Jason and Kristi show up at the same time.  They are both upset that Catherine is not being honest with them.  She finally quits worrying about what everyone else thinks and dances with Jason.  She ends up having a good time at the dance.

I found a website called enotes.  It is a subscription website, but it has good information on this book.  As a teacher, take advantage of the 7-day free trial on many online resources. Here is the link:

https://www.enotes.com/topics/rules


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