Rules - Cynthia Lord, author
Summary (from Goodreads):
This Newbery Honor Book is a heartfelt and witty story about feeling different and finding acceptance--beyond the rules.
Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She's spent years trying to teach David the rules-from "a peach is not a funny-looking apple" to "keep your pants on in public"-in order to stop his embarrassing behaviors. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a paraplegic boy, and Kristi, the next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?
My Review:
As a parent of two children with autism, I found this book to be both compelling and difficult to read. I can absolutely relate to Catherine's struggles - I myself have wished at times that my children could think and behave the way their typically-developing peers do, not because I think there's anything wrong with them as they are, but just to make their lives easier. This is a really good choice for a novel study or unit on tolerance and acceptance, and it would work equally well as a read-aloud or as a group book club book.. Struggling readers may have difficulty with the language used in the book, and students without any understanding of autism or disabilities may find the characters of David and Jason difficult to comprehend, so additional reference material may be necessary to help build schema.
Read: March 2022
