Publication Date: 2008
Type of Book: Award Winning Novel
Rules tells the story about a girl named Catherine who deals
with the difficulty of not really knowing where she fits in. Catherine feels
torn between two different worlds that in her mind don’t mix. She has a brother
with Autism so she has that world, where she takes care of him and has to handle
his quirks that she often times finds annoying. Her other world is where she
wishes to be a normal girl who goes to school, has friends and doesn’t have to
worry about what things her brother is going to do next that will embarrass her.
Through this story you see Catherine befriend a boy from the same occupational therapy
office that David goes too. Her new friend has a handicap and is bound to a wheelchair
and only communicates through picture cards. Catherine deals with the pressure
of wanting to fit in and not caring what other people think. In the end you
finally see Catherine realize that "normal" is just a word and what other people think isn’t always true. Sometimes have to forget the rules and just dance.
I really enjoyed reading this story. It was one of those
stories where I couldn’t believe how quickly I got through it. The chapters
flowed very well together and I wanted to keep reading to see what was going to
happen next in the life of Catherine. The author did a good job in making the
characters personable and interesting to read about. The story line felt very
real and was easy to connect to. I think that everyone during their life deals
with the issue of being afraid to do or say something because of what others
might think. In the end you have to decide what’s really important to you and just go
for it.
I would recommend this story to upper elementary age students
and up. This story had a great message and does a wonderful job with educating
readers about living with disabilities in a way that everyone can understand. I think that this book would help those students who may not understand a lot about living with disabilities. This book would be especially
helpful for students to read if they’re in an inclusion classroom.
Image References
http://disabilityinkidlit.com/2015/04/12/review-rules-by-cynthia-lord/
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