Rules by Cynthia Lord By Diane Waid Honors Literature

Newbery Honor book 2007

Genre

Setting Maine Summer vacation

Point of View First Person

Main Characters Catherine (narrator) a 12-year-old girl who has an autistic younger brother and loves to use art to express herself. David – Catherine’s 8-year-old brother who has autism who often embarrasses Catherine with his “strange” behavior. Kristi – Catherine’s new next-door neighbor who is beautiful and popular. Jason – A 14-year-old boy that Catherine meets at David’s occupational therapy clinic who is wheelchair bound and cannot speak.

Plot Summary Catherine, a twelve year-old, struggles to have a “normal” life while taking care of her autistic younger brother. She loves to draw and uses this talent as a way to express her frustrations with her brother’s strange behaviors. She tries to help him cope by creating a set of rules for him, such as “Chew with your mouth closed” and “No toys in the fish tank.” She tries to help him cope by creating a set of rules for him, such as “Chew with your mouth closed” and “No toys in the fish tank.” Catherine is excited when she finds out that her new neighbor is a girl her own age, but she is not sure how this new girl will accept her younger brother’s unusual behavior. Then Catherine befriends a boy in a wheelchair at David’s therapy who must use a communication board to speak. She finds his board boring with only dull words to express himself. She decides to draw pictures for his book with better words like “gross” and “stinks a big one.” When Jason asks Catherine to a dance, she has a big problem…she has told her friend Kristi about Jason, but not about his disability. Will she risk her friendship with Kristi and will she ever get David to understand the rules?

Likes and Dislikes Focuses on the predictable ending problems of autism problems of autism Realistic look at parents focus more brother-sister relationship on David than brother-sister relationship on David than Believable Catherine

References Picture of book – Picture of newbery award – Picture for setting – lord Picture for point of view – Picture of thumbs up/down –