This book screams out exactly what the title says.... Catherine has a learning disabled brother who cannot function in social situations. She give him "rules" that guide him to more or less do the "socially correct" thing.

My daughter was enthralled. Perfect gift for any tween.

The characters are believable and likeable. It helps that my daughter's best friend has a brother with Asperger's Syndrome. She found the story very compelling and even chose to do a 5th grade book report on it. To me, the story discusses very adult feelings... but she disagrees. It's very age appropriate and well written for 10-12 year olds.

We all do it, out of human nature. We see people we feel to be less fortunate than us and we can't help but look their way. A glance filled with pity and guilt. Whether it be physical limitations from something like cerebral-palsy or "odd" behavior stemmed from something like autism. However, inside these individuals lies someone as interesting, as creative, and as normal as you and me. Often times our looks and glances are not meant to hurt or offend but that doesn't me they aren't received that way. Not just by the individual, but by those closest to them. A parent. A sibling. A friend.

In Rules, Cynthia Lord puts us in the place of twelve-year-old Catherine. Catherine wants a normal life, complete with a next door friend who she can take to the beach and send flashlight messages back and forth with late at night. Lucky for her, Kristi is moving in next door this summer and may prove to be just that friend. One problem. Catherine's autistic brother David keeps getting in the way. So does Catherine's relationship with Jason, a handicapped boy she warms up to during David's occupational therapy sessions. Will Kristi still want to be Catherine's friend despite these things? Is it worth hurting either relationship in order to impress Kristi? And will Catherine's life ever be "normal"?

First and foremost, I have to commend Cynthia Lord. I have never read a novel that tells a story about autism from the point of view of a girl whose brother suffers from it. It's genius, and packed with raw, yet sometimes comical emotion. She's made Catherine so genuine, with such an authentic voice. Catherine is very responsible when it comes to David and very thoughtful when it comes to Jason, yet at the same time, can't help but ponder the advantages of a life without them. This isn't written in a rude or selfish way, it's totally natural. Because of Lord's writing, it's easy for the reader to sympathize with Catherine and her situation.

And it's not just Catherine, all of Lord's characters shine and come to life in an unflinching, honest way. Jason, who can only communicate by pointing to word cards with pictures on them, is quietly bold. Kristi, who Catherine tries desperately to impress, like many kids, may indeed be less superficial and more thoughtful than one would first expect. And then there's David, Catherine's younger autistic brother, who she tries to control and teach through the use of rules she's made up, life lessons. "No toys in the fish tank!" Through David's interactions with Catherine (his need to quote Frog and Toad books when the going gets real tough), Lord shows us that despite his autism, David is just like any other little brother who loves to pester his sister.

Interestingly enough, the only characters that did not sit well with me were the adults, and it's not Lord's fault. I see it all too often in school, kids not being allowed to live life as a kid. Kristi has to have dinner ready for her mom when she gets home from work. The responsibilities Catherine's parents place on her and the things they expect her to understand and live with, it's not fair to her. Even Jason's mother begins to just "expect" certain behaviors from Catherine. It's no wonder she feels used. Catherine's dad is usually at work and her mom is often times too busy to watch David, in one scene, even for just a few minutes while Catherine entertains a friend. I'm sure that somewhere along the line, her parents have had their fair share of difficult times (especially with David) but that doesn't give them the right to use their daughter, shift all responsibility onto her plate (a twelve-year-old girl remember), and put all her wants and desires on the back-burner. It's frustrating and it's all too real in today's society.

In the end, what makes Rules such a class act, is how Cynthia Lord never takes the story where you'd expect a children's author to take it. David does not act "over the top" in regards to his autism. Catherine isn't an unsocial hermit, hard up for friends. She's actually very likable in the book. There's even more to Jason and Kristi, then first expected, much more. Nothing is softened up, nothing is given the Disney treatment, and why should it be? These are issues all too prevalent in the lives of younger readers today. It's nice for a change to see an author show them a different side to an extremely important, yet different story.

I think Rules has many things going for it and is a story not only all children should read, but adults as well. There's plenty they could take away from Catherine's "rules". After all, those awkward looks and glances Catherine and Jason received while "running" in the doctor's parking lot, they weren't coming from children. Cynthia Lord has written a story that should change the way you look at people. It did for me.

This book opened my eyes as to how it must be for a sibling of a child with a disability. I work with children with disabilities and thought this would be a great book to expose my own child to.

This book was fantastic! I wil definitely read it with my students this upcoming school year. My 5 year old son has autism and goes to the elementary school that I teach at. He will start Kindergarten this year. Granted he does not have many of the autistic characteristics that David does, but the author is dead on accurate when she describes how others may look at a child with autism. Children on the autistic spectrum vary in many ways. No two are the same. It is nice to finally see an author portray a child with autism who talks. When people meet my son they are shocked when they find out he as autism because he is very verbal (even orders his dinner when we go out to dinner and said the Pledge of Allegiance on our school news show), does not flap his arms or flick his fingers, does not rock, and he does not like spinning things. He also loves to give and receive hugs. I admire the author for bringing her life experience into print so others, especially younger people, will understand autism better.

Everyone should read this book. A teacher, a parent, a ten-year old, a fifteen-year old. Remember that everyone is different and that's what makes life good and complete. We learn from all people...and people learn from watching us, too.

It is often easy for those who write Young Adult/Juvenile fiction to make some characters overly antagonistic and others overly sympathetic. RULES, however, creates real characters who are both sympathetic and humanly annoying. I adored Catherine and her brother David. I found them both to be endearing, funny and easy to feel compassion for. Catherine's "rules" were familiar to me as a mother of a son with Asperger's Syndrome. I understood her need to keep a situation under control because it can so easily come unraveled. I loved the way the author showed how David communicates his feelings (and kids with Autism DO have feelings) through the dialogue he had gleaned from the Frog and Toad books. I truly enjoyed this book, and thank the author for doing such an excellent job in writing it. Can't recommend it enough.

Catherine's younger brother is autistic and though she loves him, she sometimes resents how difficult her life is with him in it. She wishes, for once, that her parents would think of her first and that David would just follow the simple, everyday rules of life that are obvious to everyone else. She creates a list of rules for David (No toys in the fish tank).

When a new girl moves in next door, Catherine hopes that she and Kristi will become friends. Worried about how Kristi will react to David, Catherine tries to keep the two separate. Meanwhile, Catherine also develops a friendship with Jason that she hides from Kristi because he is confined to a wheelchair and can't speak.

Maybe a bit predictable, but in a good way, Catherine's struggle with "normal" and finding acceptance is told with warmth and compassion, without ever feeling preachy.

Newberry Honor book. Highly recommended for all.

I love this book! Rules is a Newberry Honor Book and winner of the Schneider Family Book Award. Well-written and a smooth, easy to read story, words that come to mind when I think about this book are: Honest, Real and Truthful. I like this book because to me it doesn't seem forced or fake - it's Genuine.

Catherine is a twelve year old girl who likes to draw and sketch. She has two guinea pigs named Cinnamon and Nutmeg, and wants to become friends with Kristi who just moved in next door. Catherine fills her sketchbook with drawings and also with rules to help her brother and herself understand the world. During David's OT visits, Catherine meets Jason in the waiting room. Jason uses a wheelchair and communications cards. Catherine begins creating new cards for Jason's communication notebook - new words complete with drawings of her own to match. As their friendship grows, Catherine and Jason expand in different ways; he tries new things and she starts seeing things from a new perspective.

A great book that really shows the discomfort of meeting someone is who is different. As the story closes, it's really up in the air how things will end.

Rules is an excellent book. Rule is about a twelve year old girl named Cathrine who has a brother named David who has autism. Cathrine tries to teach him rules like " No toys in the fish tank and "Keep your pants on in public." I think Rules is a wounderful book to read beacuse it's about Cathrine trying to make friends and a girl moves in next door and tries to make friends. If you want to know if they become friends, read Rules. I would recommend this book to people who like books with good narration.

I thought this book was fabulous. It was great to read a book about a child with autism that didn't focus only on the child's disability but on who they are as people. Great complexity of emotions and very true to life!

Very applicable to what a family experiences when autism in a part of your life. I'm hoping my daughter will better understand her autistic sister better after reading this book with me.

The previous 45 reviews captured 80% of my feelings on this book. My own daughter is 11 and her asperger diagnosed brother of 8 fit the bill of this story. I heard about this story from my daughter who mentioned that her class was reading a book "about her brother". I kid you not. My daughter believed that I contacted the teacher and had a book created to explain her brother and her love and her fear and her worries. The scenes from OT (many of her friends had no idea what that meant) and the levels of love, worry, embarrassment this girl feels in the story are my own daughters experience. Her comment was, after accepting that I did not write the book or tell her teacher about it, was " have you ever read a book that explains exactly how you feel in that exact moment in time?". We both cried. I feel like a stranger has written a book for our family that explains to us what is going on in our lives. There should be a better,more emphatic way to appreciate thanks to the author of this book.
Mom to 2 wonderful girls and one exceptional/complicated boy

As a mom of special needs kids, I loved this book! It's from the perspective of a typical sister, which is a nice perspective. The book also shows how loving the sister can be, which is a wonderful change from most books, on any subject. A lesson from the book can be that no matter how frustrated you are, you can still be nice.

This is a wonderful book about a girl's life dealing with her struggle to be normal with a pretty profoundly autistic younger brother. She really works hard to be honest with herself, and is not always successful. Unlike a lot of children's books, this one even has an ending I can live with. It's touching without being saccharine, satisfying without being overly neat and tidy. Just a wonderful book with great characters (including the parents, who veer from the stock set appearing in most children's books).

Cynthia Lord has created a wonderful, endearing and entertaining story that opens up discussion for so many life lessons. Working with kids with autism, I welcome with open arms this enjoyable teaching tool. I would recommend this as required reading for kids from 4th grade all the way through 7th. I think the characters are realistic and they teach from the heart. It is a good tool for teaching kids (and adults) about taking the extra step to learn more about those around us. I loved the relationship between Catherine and Jason and enjoyed "watching" Catherine create new words for Jason which opened up his world a bit more. Kudos to Ms. Lord on her Newbery Award. Education, compassion and understanding are lessons this book offers. Joanna Keating-Velasco, author, A IS FOR AUTISM, F IS FOR FRIENDA Is for Autism F Is for Friend: A Kid's Book for Making Friends with a Child Who Has Autism

This is an award winning book that tells what it's like to be the normal sibling in a family with a special child. The protagonist is realistically drawn and her difficulties protecting her autistic brother from the harsh realities of prejudice and small-minded cruelty will touch your heart. Although targeted for the upper elementary or middle school audience, readers of all ages would benefit from the expressive and moving portrait Cynthia Lord paints of the conflicts faced by the members of families with special kids.

After seeing Rules in countless Scholastic classroom book orders, I purchased the novel to read to my fifth grade students, wanting to expose them to a worthwhile piece of children's literature. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome; they enjoyed the story (and the different rules included throughout the book) and seemed to really look at the way people treat others.

Rules not only deals with autism, but with disabilities in general. The main character, a twelve year old named Catherine, frequently accompanies her younger brother (who is autistic) to his occupational therapy clinic where she befriends a boy her age named Jason. Although Lord never specifically names the disability, Jason is in a wheelchair and is unable to communicate through speech, he instead points to word cards. The two develop a friendship, although Catherine continues to struggle with how the world views her relationships with disabled people. These situations provoked some very interesting, touching discussions with my students that I hope have helped them become more compassionate young people.

Rules is a very important books for kids to read or hear. Many children are not exposed to people that are different than them, and it seems that this lack of information often leads to bullying. This is an interesting, funny, touching read for kids, probably best for those ten and up.

I finally got my hands on RULES by Cynthia Lord, and I read it in one sitting. The narrator, Catherine, genuinely seems twelve. Her mannerisms and thoughts ring true, especially her artistic view on life and her lists of rules to help both herself and her autistic brother David. Catherine has more than shallow run-of-the-mill problems to deal with, and yet she's easy to identify with. In less capable hands, the story could have come across saccharine or depressing. Lord pulls it off in a way that seems effortless. She does a great job with pacing as well. From the premise of the book, I expected it to be a slower read, but the story strides along confidently.

I loved Catherine's blossoming relationship with wheelchair-bound Jason, who can't speak, beautifully shown in the vocabulary cards she makes him. At the start he has only a standard, bland set of cards. She's the first person to recognize his need to express himself through joking, sarcasm, and teen slang. I laughed when Jason's mother said, "Don't 'whatever' me, young man!" and felt a bit of shared triumph. As Catherine helps Jason communicate, she in turn reveals her own hidden thoughts and emotions. I even became a bit misty-eyed when I read the end, a rare occurrence. Catherine's life and the people in it are neither predictable nor perfect, but her compassion remains constant, and that's the beauty of this book.

I finally got my hands on RULES by Cynthia Lord, and I read it in one sitting. The narrator, Catherine, genuinely seems twelve. Her mannerisms and thoughts ring true, especially her artistic view on life and her lists of rules to help both herself and her autistic brother David. Catherine has more than shallow run-of-the-mill problems to deal with, and yet she's easy to identify with. In less capable hands, the story could have come across saccharine or depressing. Lord pulls it off in a way that seems effortless. She does a great job with pacing as well. From the premise of the book, I expected it to be a slower read, but the story strides along confidently.



I loved Catherine's blossoming relationship with wheelchair-bound Jason, who can't speak, beautifully shown in the vocabulary cards she makes him. At the start he has only a standard, bland set of cards. She's the first person to recognize his need to express himself through joking, sarcasm, and teen slang. I laughed when Jason's mother said, "Don't 'whatever' me, young man!" and felt a bit of shared triumph. As Catherine helps Jason communicate, she in turn reveals her own hidden thoughts and emotions. I even became a bit misty-eyed when I read the end, a rare occurrence. Catherine's life and the people in it are neither predictable nor perfect, but her compassion remains constant, and that's the beauty of this book.

Catherine is between a rock and a hard place...like most siblings of special children are. Somewhere between protecting her autistic brother and protecting herself from embarassment of his behavior, she creates a list of rules for him.

This deeply moving story examines many facets of lives with challenges. Catherine is able to see the heart of the matter through the eyes of a physically challenged boy at her brother's therapy office. He can only communicate by pointing to words. She empathizes with his limitations and gives him new words to expand his options - like "Whatever"! They build a special bond together.

Meanwhile, outside of the world of doctors and therapists, Catherine longs to make friends with her new neighbor. She is concerned that the new friend will not understand her brother's behavior or her wheelchair-bound friend's challenges. Struggling with her own opposing feelings, she avoids bringing these two parts of her life together.

My favorite part of the story was the way that Catherine's brother was able to communicate through the words of Loebel's Frog and Toad Together story. Absolutely precious!

I was so touched by this story, because we have special needs children in our own family. The lives of our other children have been both challenged and blessed by dealing with the reality of a sibling with medical and mental differences. Of course, we tried to make sure that the hearts of all of our children were nurtured, but there was inevitably an impact on our other children. They have had extra responsibilities and sometimes felt that their needs were neglected to meet the demands of their sibling. Yet, in the end, their character was deepened and their maturity was advanced by living beyond themselves in a self-seeking culture.

This is an important story that EVERY child should read. Autism is growing at an alarming rate. It would benefit every child to get in the shoes of special children and that of their family.

Rules. What are they for? Catherine creates some for her brother to help him function in the normal world, and some for herself.

Her life and personal space is constantly overrun by her brother - either he comes to her, or their parents send him to her for various things. David's world is black and white, so Catherine creates personal boundaries in a language he can understand: Rules. Such as, "Pantless brothers are not my problem." However, rules are rigid. As a result, she falls into the same black-and-white trap, and her rules morph into excuses. Such as "I never dance unless I'm alone or it's pitch black." I loved watching Catherine figure out how her rules are limiting her life.

This story beautifully illustrates the difficulties around having autism in a family, as well as the problems that arise from creating rigid personal boundaries. At times, Catherine seemed more of a teenager than a twelve year old, especially with the bikini and boy scenes, but other than that I enjoyed it thoroughly.

This is a fabulous book that people of all ages will enjoy. I was thrilled to share it with my daughter whose awareness of the issues people in general and children in particular with handicaps face. Her compassion was increased and the book spawned some wonderful discussions. My only problem with the book was the depiction of the Speech-Language Pathologist... however I understand it was a tool to further the relationship between children (gang up against the adult). Great job and kudos to the author for the insightful book!

I loved this book. Often I start a book and read it over a few days to my children. I ended up reading the entire book in one sitting. I loved the book. Well done. I would recommend it to any reader.

I bought this book for my 9 year old and her mother daughter book club. I read it and foung it a great read for kids. It helps kids understand differences are okay.

This senstive book brings to light the search for "what is normal". A measure of humor allows the reader to relate to the main character with empathy and love, yet provokes reflection on how we see those around us.
I hightly recommend this for ten year olds and up.

The book Rules by Cynthia Lord is a touching novel about a [...] girl named Catherine, her parents, her autistic eight-year-old brother, David, and her two friends Jason and Kristi.
It starts off near the beginning of summer in a town in Maine. Cynthia and her Mother take young David to Occupational Therapy (referred to as "OT" in the book) every Tuesday and Thursday. There Catherine draws people in the waiting room, and she starts to draw a mute, paraplegic boy she guesses is 14 or 15 years old. He notices, and he points to a book, which is where he keeps the cards that basically speak for him. His Mother asks her to stop drawing him. I wish the author would say how Jason became paralyzed.
Kristi is a new girl next store. Catherine misses her friend, Melissa, who was in California with her Dad when this story took place. Catherine hopes that Kristi enjoys doing things like her and Melissa did. She isn't as "athletic" and "sporty" as Catherine wished.
This story ends with a dance involving the three and a school "bully" named Ryan, and of course, David. I hope you get a chance to read this touching novel sometime.

This book was really cute. Left you hanging a little at the end but all in all it was a good read

Like many of the books involving autistic children, this focuses on a pre-teen sister of a boy with autism. It does cover some of the behavior involved with her brother, the embarassment she feels when he does things he should not in public, and her friendship with a boy suffering from another disability in depth from her point of view.

The story is as seen from a young girl's eyes. I'm having my daughter read it since her brother has autism, to see if it helps her. I think she'll enjoy it, and maybe write down some rules of her own, though our autistic child is not nearly so developed as David in the book.

This is a great book for children in middle school to read. Cynthia Lord shows the reality of what it is like to live with disabilities and how everyone is affected by one. At an age where children are sure to tease others for being different, this book allows the reader to realize the diversity and how special everyone really is.

Yesterday I read this beautiful book. Rules by Cynthia Lord is a poignant story showing a slice of 12-year-old Catherine's life. Her brother, David has autism. Catherine lovingly makes up rules to help him get through life. Things that other people figure out for themselves, David must be taught. Some of the rules include "If the bathroom door is closed, knock (especially if Catherine has a friend over)!", "Keep your pants on! Unless Mom, Dad, or the doctor tells you to take them off.", and "No toys in the fish tank."
Catherine is not only a sister to David, though. She is an artist, a daughter, a friend. When a new girl moves next door, Catherine is hopeful that they will become good friends. But she is embarrassed to say anything about David. She also develops a close bond with a handicapped boy who cannot speak or walk. She draws pictures for him to help him communicate.
Cynthia Lord has done an incredible job tackling a heavy topic. The book is laced with both humor and tenderness.
I highly recommend this book for all ages.
As you can see, Rules won a Newbery Honor and the Schneider Family Book Award in 2006.[...]

i ordered this book because i homeschool my daughter and i was looking for something she would enjoy reading. since the main character was 12 (like my daughter), i thought she may connect. i wanted to read it first to make sure it was appropriate and with no objectionable content.
surprise! i could hardly put it down. rules is a fun, easy read, with deep meaning and loads of discussion and study possibilities. (ex. autism, guinea pigs, occupational therapy, friendship, acceptance,...) lord also offers discussion guides and activities on her website []
i love how the author concentrates on catherine's feelings and perspectives, while leaving to the imagination of the reader, the details of the supporting cast. i can't wait until my daughter reads it. i hope she loves it as much as i did.

i ordered this book because i homeschool my daughter and i was looking for something she would enjoy reading. since the main character was 12 (like my daughter), i thought she may connect. i wanted to read it first to make sure it was appropriate and with no objectionable content.
surprise! i could hardly put it down. rules is a fun, easy read, with deep meaning and loads of discussion and study possibilities. (ex. autism, guinea pigs, occupational therapy, friendship, acceptance,...)
i love how the author concentrates on catherine's feelings and perspectives, while leaving to the imagination of the reader, the details of the supporting cast. i can't wait until my daughter reads it. i hope she loves it as much as i did.

Catherine is a twelve year old girl whose little brother, David, has autism. On one hand she is fiercely protective of him but on the other, she is mortified when he does embarrassing things that could potentially mess up her relationships. She doesn't give her friends nearly enough credit in understanding about David, but she's been burned in the past. To help David be less embarassing, Catherine writes him rules about day-to-day life. No toys in the fish tank. It's ok to yell on the playground, but not during dinner. Over time, a lot of these rules are obviously more for Catherine than for David.

Catherine's best friend is away is away for the summer and there's a new family moving in next door. Catherine has high hopes for her friendship with Kristi, but, like real life, not everything goes as she wished it would--and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

When Catherine accompanies David to therapy, she meets Jason, who is in a wheel chair and can't talk. Jason has a book of cards with pictures and words that he points to in order to communicate. Catherine starts drawing him more cards, including nebulous concepts like "murky" and "unfair". Catherine again tries to balance fitting in with her "normal" friends and classmates, and her friendship with Jason. Jason was a really interesting character that continued to surprise me, and I wish we saw even more of him.

One of my favorite parts of this book were when Catherine was trying to figure out what to draw for abstract ideas. My other favorite part was the struggle Catherine had in trying to be understanding of David, but feeling overshadowed by him in the family dynamic and needing her parents to sometimes focus exclusively on her. I think it was a very real, if not pretty, look at what it means to be in a family with someone who requires so much attention and energy.

I also liked how, when David couldn't put his thoughts and feelings into words, would quote extensively from the Frog and Toad books by Lobel. It was heartbreaking and hilarious.

My main quibble is with the ending-- it was overly tidy and neat while at the same time not really solving anything. It tarnished the rest of the wonderful book for me.

Rules is a wonderful book and is very deserving of the honors it has received. It is a story about Catherine and her daily life with her brother, David, who is autistic. She loves him, takes care of him, and teaches him all kinds of rules just in case he wakes up one day and is "normal". On the other hand, she is also embarrassed by him and wants to keep him hidden from her friends.

Catherine befriends Jason, a paraplegic, during one of her brothers' therapy sessions. He communicates with a book of words that Catherine eagerly adds to. The relationship between Catherine and Jason is very sweet and caring with occasional ups and downs.

I really enjoyed this book, but I do believe that many of the issues the author raises would get overlooked by the younger readers. This book would be a great book for parents and younger readers to read together, it would also make a wonderful book to read as a class.

I like it. It's not as great as I had hoped.

I guess the fact that I'm an Asperger's adult made me feel like the non-autistic characters got a better deal in this book than the autistic boy. His character could have been made to seem more human, he's there, but maybe a bit too stereotyped, like a cartoon, hollow or "not like us." He's consistently "the problem," and not "the solution." Why couldn't he have been shown to be a helper and equal on some level to his sister?

It's not a huge problem in the book, it just makes me nervous to see him be characterized as empty (or merely full of angst) at times. There's a theme around the fact that he and his sister connect through a continual "scripted" conversation, and we are aupposed to see the meaning below the script that the boy is using. That is supposed to show how there is real feeling there in the boy in spite of the atypical speech. I just don't think it's enough.

Jason a young man with a different (also severe) handicap comes across as a real person.

It's too bad there isn't a popular book like this for kids written from the viewpoint of the brave, creative and long-suffering autistic sibling instead of the from the better known perspective of the brave, creative and long-suffering normal sibling.

I have an ASD child and a typical child. Both are adults. I think I understand this sibling dynamic from both sides.

This book will not take you long to read, but it is worth it to purchase it. I am a public school teacher and found this book insightful into the lives of families that may have an Autistic Child, ...........you will laugh and cry and remember!!!!!

As the parent of an autism spectrum kid, I sit here desperate to communicate just how deeply this book moved me. Ms. Lord does an amazing job of capturing the autistic family. I say family rather than child, because autism affects everyone in the child's life and not just the individual. It can be very hard to feel normal when at home everything revolves around a person with special needs.

Our protagonist,Catherine, is a sweet, somewhat shy girl who loves to draw. She alternates between acting as her autistic brother's protector and being embarrassed by his behavior. David is four years younger than Catherine and obsessive about Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad. A particularly poignant touch is the way that Catherine and David communicate with eachother by reciting lines from these classic friendship stories. My son often used lines from computer games to communicate when he was younger, as he couldn't understand that others did not have the same frame of reference. This sort of attention to detail is what allows Lord to tell her story so realistically.

The characters are all richly painted and believeable. I'd like to call Catherine's mom and invite her over for tea. I'd tell her that it's ok to bring David; I don't mind if he pokes in my closets. :)

This is a story about embracing differences and accepting people as they are. I highly recommend it for both boys and girls aged ten to adult.

This book is a study more than a story. Yes there is a story in the study, but the study of a family that has an autistic child and a non autistic child. Autism is incredibly difficult on a family that wants to have a normal social life but perhaps even more difficult on the "normal" child who must spend many devoted hours a day babysitting the sibling that never grows up, but lives by rules. Without "rules" in the autistic child would have so much more difficulty living in the world of "normal people."

The real value I see in this book is the study of what the family must go through to raise the autistic child. Through this study we learn to appreciate that family's capacity love - outside of what is normal. The book even goes so far as to ask the reader, what normal is.

If you or someone in your family has to deal with children with autism, either in or outside your home, then this is an important book to read. If you feel the need to know more about how a family struggles to stay together and the burden that an autistic child places on the family unit, or if you want to read about the extraordinary tolerance, the frustration and the sometime uncanny wit that might occur because of the autistic child -- than this book is for you.

I am giving this book 4 stars because it makes us aware of the sensitivity of the subject matter.

What a wonderful book! Should be required reading for teens (and adults) now that autism is everywhere. It's also just so compassionate and beautifully written, I didn't want it to end. The author clearly loves her characters. She makes their conflicts clear, their fallibility real, their decisions and actions difficult ones. Many, many kudos. And congratulations on the much-deserved award!
Gwendolen Gross (author of THE OTHER MOTHER)

As an elementary teacher, I bought this to read to my students so they would know what the real world is like...and found the book very interesting and touching and funny....could be looked at on many levels all the way through middle and high school...as well as for adults...a definite GO BUY IT!

Rules is a well written,humorous account of a precious girl, Catherine who takes care of her little brother,David who has Autism. Her rules that she has written for David not only make you chuckle, but help us all to better understand the tragedy of Autism and what it does to families.
What a great teaching this book is for all of us.
Thanks Gloria Lord for sharing this beautiful story with all of "our" children.
Jim McKenna
Storyreader

This is a wonderful story. The mannerisms of David were perfectly described without making you feel sorry for him! I work with autistic children and when Catherine would complain about David's behavior I couldn't help but smile and think, "I know what you mean." I loved how dealing with David's autism was not the main struggle for Catherine. She was having this inner struggle of what "normal" is to her- which every young person goes through.
Catherine is a character that every girl can relate to because she is finding what true friends are really made of. I love that Cynthia Lord allows Catherine to struggle to find true friendship. It is not easy, and being different stinks a big one!!!! I really hope Lord has many more books about Catherine and David. This book will definately be read in my classroom because nowadays, with my inclusion classroom, dealing with special needs is an issue all students have.

Catherine's little brother David is autistic. She has written a list of rules to help him (and her) through his days. David has difficulty relating to the outside world, but he's very smart and has memorized entire Arnold Lobel books on tape. Thus, one of Catherine's rules is: If you need to borrow words, Arnold Lobel wrote some good ones.

The surprise for me was that Catherine meets Jason, a severely challenged teen who goes to therapy at the same office as David. Jason can't talk, but that doesn't mean he can't understand. Catherine reaches out to him despite her longing to identify with her popular next-door neighbor. When you finish reading RULES, you'll feel sorry for handicapped people, but they won't be the ones you think.

After reading this lovely book, I added two RULES of my own:

When you sit down to read RULES, you will wish you had enough time to read it in one sitting.

If you need to borrow words, Cynthia Lord wrote some good ones.

This was a perfect book. The characters were complex, the tension strong, and both the humor and the bittersweet realization of things that can't be changed were dead on. Not a single word was out of place. I'm so happy to see that it's just been awarded a Newbery Honor. This one well deserves it!