"Dont let a little dispute injure a great friendship."
Rules by Catherine
Bibliographic Information
Rules by Cynthia Lord
Publisher: Scholastic Press, p. 2008 c2006
ISBN: 9780439443838
Dewey: Fic Interest Level: 3rd-6th Reading :Level: 3.9
Subjects: Autiism, brothers and sisters, people with disabilities
Plot Summary
Twelve year old Catherine attempts to make her life normal. This is a difficult task as her brother suffers from autism. All family attention revolves around his disability. Her life becomes more complicated when she becomes friends with Jason a young man who is a paraplegic. Add to this mix she meets and becomes friends with a new neighbor.
Catherine comes up with the idea of writing rules for her brother David. The rules are ones that will keep David from doing things that will embarass her in public.
Catherine's problems escalate during the summer when this story takes place. The problems come from Catherine's behavior, not from that of her friends. As the story reaches it climax Catherine comes to realize the responsibility she has for her problems. What she learns from her friendst help her to develop into a young lady.
Critical Analysis
The themes that are dealt with in this realistic fiction include friendship, honesty, acceptance, and diversity. Each chapter title is a rule from Catherine.Each rule is a clue to what the chapter will be about. As an example: :Don't run down the clinic hallway, is the title of the chapter that deals with David's visits to the clinic
The characters are very believable. They seem like young people who live in your neighborhood. The narrative and the dialogue are what you would expect from young people.The summer in which the story takes place is one of emotional growth for Catherine. She vascialtes between resenting her brother and loving him at the same time.These are normal feelings for siblings of children with disabilities.
The ending is predicatble for the reader.There are no real twists or surprses for anyone who has grown up with lifetime movies, The setting is recognizable as current and so the reader will easily identify with the main characters. Despite this the themes are universal and are relative to any period in history and geographical place.
Catherine has a strong voice that is apparent in the narrative and in the rules she composes for David. The reader gets a look into her being.and despite her flaws will find her to be a very likable human being.
The author Cybthia Lord has a very interesting website that includes information about her books and has teacher suggestions. She will also reply to your letters if you include a self-addressed stamp envelope. This is typical of authors who write for young people to have a website. apparently she used to do book talks which she no longer does. That is sad as I am sure this would have been one way to hook students and get them interested in reading other books.
Reviews/Excerpets.
Booklist: "... a heartwarming first novel."
New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading: "Catherineis an appealing andbelievable character, accutley self-conscious, torn between her love forher brotherand her resnetment of his special needs."
Kidpost Book of the Week, Washington Post: " ... will draw in readers as she struggles to find order and balance in her life."
Booklist (February 15,2006 ( Vol. 102, No. 12): "Lots fo the rules are practical. Others are more subtle and shed light on issues in Catherine's own life."
Kirkus Review (March 1, 2006): "Catherine is an appealing and believable character."
Library Media Connection (October 2006): "The first person narrative is very engaging and readers will identify with Catherine's struggles and cheer for her at the end."
Connections
The title is itself excellent to connect students to the text. A discussion can focus on what students perceive as rules.they can reflect on what the word rules mean to them. What rules do they consider as necessary? What rules do they have in their lives? What rules would they write for a sibling? Each then could produce a graphic displaying the rule to share with the class. These graphics could make an interesting display for the library or the classroom.
Another way that students could connect to rules would be to have them choose one of Catherine's rules that they feel pertains to them and write a paper about how it does relate to their lives.
The characters in this novel are well-developed and lend themselves to character study lessons for students. Each student could draw an outline of one of the characters and put a strength or weakness on each limb. Emotional characteristics could be written on the body proper. Underneath they could wtrite three words that describe the character.A fun way to share these would be to not name the character but have the class guess which character it is.
Draewing cards are important to Jason and using this idea could also be a way for students to connect to the text.Discuss with students the idea of these cards and how they helped jJason communicate. Have them do drawing cards for some of the words that Catherine made in the story.
Awards
Nominated for state Kids' Choice Awards in: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pacific Northwest (voting together: Alaska, Alberta CA, British Columbia CA, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington), Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Newberry Medal/Honor
Notable Best Books (A.L.A.)
Schneider Family Book Award
Mitten Award (Michigan Library Association)
Great Lakes Great Book Award (Michigan)
Maine Student Book Award
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award
Kentucky Blue Grass Award
Great Stone Face Award (New Hampshire)
Buckeye Children's Book Award (Ohio)
Websites
Cynthia Lords website: http://www.cynthialord.com
Autism Information: http://www.autism-society.org
Scholastic book website has video interviews with Cynthia Lord that are very interesing.
Other Books by Cynthia Lord
Hot Rod Hamster
Touch Blue
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