Great read from a Maine author

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	• Rules (Newbery Honor Book) Cynthia Lord Scholastic Press, 2006 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 69 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Great read from a Maine author

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!!!!!

hmmm, good but not perfect

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.

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You've got to read this book!

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.

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A story of friendship.

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.

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Not A Bedtime Story

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.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, page 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

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recommendations

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