Culture 6 - Inclusive: RULES

Lord, Cynthia. RULES. New York: Scholastic, 2006. ISBN 0439443822

Catherine is 12 years old. She has a brother that she thinks interferes with her having a normal life. Her brother has autism and although she helps him a great deal she is embarrassed in front of people who don't know and angered by people who make fun of him. When she makes friends with a boy who challenges her to define normal.

Rules, written, unwritten, and unspoken are all around us. "Most kids don't even consider these rules." Catherine writes rules for her autistic brother, David, as a way to hopefully avoid embarrassment. Most of the rules apply to us all and will make us laugh binding readers with the story and characters from the beginning. "Sometimes people don't answer because they didn't hear you. Other times it's because they don't want to hear you." "If you want to get away with something, don't announce it first." Readers can almost forget Catherine is only 12 since she is the one writing the rules for her brother. Her parents rely on Catherine to help care for David so it has made her mature faster than other girls her age. Catherine is endearing to readers because we see that she's not always comfortable being a caretaker and wants to do what everyone else is doing. "It feels deliciously easy to be visiting a friend's house without having to say first, 'Sorry, David, this is for me.'"
Lord does a great job showing Catherine as a normal girl experiencing frustration with her family that all girls and boys experience. Catherine is also frustrated by the fact that her dad chooses to distance himself from his family. He works late, spends time in his garden and takes David to his favorite place, the video store. Catherine reaches out to her father and asks to do something with him and he puts her off. "'Someday soon,' he says. 'I promise.'" Catherine thinks to herself, "I know he's just promising to stop me from asking again."
All students experience teasing and children with disabilities are no exception. Ryan, a boy in Catherine's neighborhood, has teased David and therefore, has an enemy in Catherine. Catherine meets a boy, Jason, at the OT's office who is in a wheelchair and doesn't speak. Catherine and Jason become friends and when faced with the prospect of being seen together at a dance steps back for fear of both being made fun of. Catherine's friendship with Jason began with her making word cards for him to use to point to when he wanted to "speak". She begins to see he is normal in his thoughts, ideas, and feelings, but his body is what makes him different. Even though she despises Ryan's treatment of her brother it is her desire to keep Jason hidden from others that forces her to question what she believes is normal and acceptable. When Jason asks if she wants to go to the dance she makes excuses and he sees right through and asks her "Are? You. Embarrassed. About. Me." It is the question we all wonder how we would answer. We hope we would answer it correctly but Catherine shows us our true answer may not be the right one and she realizes she must change her thinking. Her confrontation with the issue is realistic and universal. Readers will gain insight from Catherine and begin asking themselves how they would react.
Another important issue in RULES is that Cynthia Lord does not give clinical details about autism or Jason's disability. Facts about each one are woven into the story without becoming a distraction. One day at OT Catherine notices Jason is angry because he "slides his hand across his book, jabbing at cards. His fingers curl, clawlike, as his knuckle raps one word and another." Jason's "hands twitch, and he makes rumbling-throat sounds, near to growling." Autism has so many different characteristics but Lord gives readers enough tidbits of information to give a good visual of what he's like. David loves to go to the video store and has to "walk down each row of videos, flipping boxes over to read the parental advisory and the rating - even on videos Dad would never let him rent."
RULES is a great book that readers will love whether or not they have had any experiences with people with disabilities. Hopefully, it challenges readers to examine their own feelings towards people with disabilities.

PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY: "A rewarding story that may well inspire readers to think about others' point of view."

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "Lord has candidly captured the delicate dynamics in a family that revolves around a child's disability."

Read other Schneider Family Book Award winners:
Sachar, Louis. SMALL STEPS. New York: Delacorte Press, 2006. ISBN 9780385733144