Customer Reviews
A great book that really shows the discomfort of meeting someone who is different! An Honest, Real & Genuine Read! 
2008-06-18
I love this book! Rules is a Newberry Honor Book and winner of the Schneider Family Book Award. Well-written and a smooth, easy to read story, words that come to mind when I think about this book are: Honest, Real and Truthful. I like this book because to me it doesn't seem forced or fake - it's Genuine.
Catherine is a twelve year old girl who likes to draw and sketch. She has two guinea pigs named Cinnamon and Nutmeg, and wants to become friends with Kristi who just moved in next door. Catherine fills her sketchbook with drawings and also with rules to help her brother and herself understand the world. During David's OT visits, Catherine meets Jason in the waiting room. Jason uses a wheelchair and communications cards. Catherine begins creating new cards for Jason's communication notebook - new words complete with drawings of her own to match. As their friendship grows, Catherine and Jason expand in different ways; he tries new things and she starts seeing things from a new perspective.
A great book that really shows the discomfort of meeting someone is who is different. As the story closes, it's really up in the air how things will end.
Rules 2008-05-28
Rules is an excellent book. Rule is about a twelve year old girl named Cathrine who has a brother named David who has autism. Cathrine tries to teach him rules like " No toys in the fish tank and "Keep your pants on in public." I think Rules is a wounderful book to read beacuse it's about Cathrine trying to make friends and a girl moves in next door and tries to make friends. If you want to know if they become friends, read Rules. I would recommend this book to people who like books with good narration.
Fabulous 2008-05-25
I thought this book was fabulous. It was great to read a book about a child with autism that didn't focus only on the child's disability but on who they are as people. Great complexity of emotions and very true to life!
Great book for families with autistic kids 2008-05-18
Very applicable to what a family experiences when autism in a part of your life. I'm hoping my daughter will better understand her autistic sister better after reading this book with me.
KCS- Rules Review 2008-05-14
Catherine is a twelve year old living with a brother who has autism. All she wants is to live a normal life, one where she is not constantly watching her brother, David.
It is summer vacation and Catherine is eagerly waiting for her "potential best friend" to move in next door. In the mean time, she follows her mom and David to his occupational therapy each week. There, she meets an unusual boy named Jason. Jason can't move or talk, so he uses communication cards. Catherine uses her gift of drawing make cards for Jason, and they become closer friends each week. She always thought it was a pain to have a sibling with autism, but realizes how tough it actually is to live with a disability.
I really enjoyed this book and how it shows how it is to take care of someone with a disability. The author shows the reality of disabilities, from the person who has it, and their family. I think this book is written in a Christian perspective because the book has good themes through out it. One of the themes in this book is to not be ashamed of a friend because you are afraid of what others reactions might be.
What a terrific book! 2008-07-24
This book opened my eyes as to how it must be for a sibling of a child with a disability. I work with children with disabilities and thought this would be a great book to expose my own child to.
review from a parent of a son with autism and a teacher 2008-07-13
This book was fantastic! I wil definitely read it with my students this upcoming school year. My 5 year old son has autism and goes to the elementary school that I teach at. He will start Kindergarten this year. Granted he does not have many of the autistic characteristics that David does, but the author is dead on accurate when she describes how others may look at a child with autism. Children on the autistic spectrum vary in many ways. No two are the same. It is nice to finally see an author portray a child with autism who talks. When people meet my son they are shocked when they find out he as autism because he is very verbal (even orders his dinner when we go out to dinner and said the Pledge of Allegiance on our school news show), does not flap his arms or flick his fingers, does not rock, and he does not like spinning things. He also loves to give and receive hugs. I admire the author for bringing her life experience into print so others, especially younger people, will understand autism better.
Something for Everyone 2008-07-08
Everyone should read this book. A teacher, a parent, a ten-year old, a fifteen-year old. Remember that everyone is different and that's what makes life good and complete. We learn from all people...and people learn from watching us, too.
Absolutley Excellent 2008-07-04
It is often easy for those who write Young Adult/Juvenile fiction to make some characters overly antagonistic and others overly sympathetic. RULES, however, creates real characters who are both sympathetic and humanly annoying. I adored Catherine and her brother David. I found them both to be endearing, funny and easy to feel compassion for. Catherine's "rules" were familiar to me as a mother of a son with Asperger's Syndrome. I understood her need to keep a situation under control because it can so easily come unraveled. I loved the way the author showed how David communicates his feelings (and kids with Autism DO have feelings) through the dialogue he had gleaned from the Frog and Toad books. I truly enjoyed this book, and thank the author for doing such an excellent job in writing it. Can't recommend it enough.
Amazing! 2008-07-02
Catherine's younger brother is autistic and though she loves him, she sometimes resents how difficult her life is with him in it. She wishes, for once, that her parents would think of her first and that David would just follow the simple, everyday rules of life that are obvious to everyone else. She creates a list of rules for David (No toys in the fish tank).
When a new girl moves in next door, Catherine hopes that she and Kristi will become friends. Worried about how Kristi will react to David, Catherine tries to keep the two separate. Meanwhile, Catherine also develops a friendship with Jason that she hides from Kristi because he is confined to a wheelchair and can't speak.
Maybe a bit predictable, but in a good way, Catherine's struggle with "normal" and finding acceptance is told with warmth and compassion, without ever feeling preachy.
Newberry Honor book. Highly recommended for all.
