Rules

Lord,C. (2008). Rules. NY: Scholastic.

(Required Reading Book)

This an excellent book to teach any age elementary student about differences and how to deal with them. This story is about Catherine and her little brother David who has autism. Catherine has created sets of rules of things that David can and cannot due. One of the main rules is about David putting his toys in the fish tank. Catherine, David, and their mother take David to occupational therapy twice each week. As the summer kicks off, Catherine gets a new next-door neighbor named Kristi. She also makes a new friend at occupational therapy named Jason. Jason uses a wheelchair and is physically disabled. Because he is nonverbal, he uses a book of cards to communicate. Each card has a word on it, so he points to the cards he wants in order to create a sentence. Catherine, at first is afraid of Jason’s disabilities but she very soon becomes very fond of him. Catherine creates more cards for Jason so that he can really communicate how he feels. Catherine  even pushes Jason super fast in the parking so he can feel what it would be like to run. The story ends with Catherine finding out who is really her friend and who is not.  She also comes the realization that the things her brother does he can not help and he is not hurting anybody.Rules is a children’s novel about friendship, the importance and value of rules, honesty, diversity, and acceptance.  It is also about dealing with sadness, and frustration that you can overcome.