Rules by Cynthia Lord

Rules is a coming-of-age story of twelve-year-old Catherine, who both loves and is embarrassed by her autistic brother, David who loves to quote from Toad and Frog. Catherine dreams that one day David will wake up in the morning and be normal kid. But realizing that this prospect is very slim, she creates a list of rules to help David understand both overt and implied rules of the world, such as “if someone says “hi,” you say “hi” back, or “a boy can take off his shirt to swim, but not his shorts.” With a father who is a pharmacist and a mom with her own home tax preparation business, Catherine is often “left in charge” of David and feels her parents have little time left over for her after keeping up with all of David’s needs. And as Catherine comes up with rules for her brother to learn, she is also creating rules for her own life along the way, such as “if you don’t want to do something, say, “Hmm. I’ll think about it” and maybe the asker will forget the whole bad idea” or “sometimes you gotta work with what you got.”
Ever since she was little, Catherine has often gone with David to see his occupational therapist. One day, while waiting for David, Catherine meets a boy named Jason who is wheelchair bound and “talks” by using a communication book filled with word cards and corresponding drawings. She befriends Jason and begins making more cards for him filled with words she feels are more “useful” to him such as gross!, awesome!, and stinks a big one!. In contrast to his original black and white words-only cards, Catherine’s new cards are illustrated and in color, and a deep friendship begins to blossom. Yet, Catherine also befriends Kristi, the new girl next door that she so wishes to be her best friend. Yet, this friendship is more like work, especially after watching Kristi fall for the neighborhood bully, Ryan. Consequently, Catherine can’t bring herself to tell Kristi about Jason. She is also not too sure she wants the other kids at school to know that she is friends a boy who is “different,” and so she is torn between inviting Jason to the school dance and having her friends find out about Jason. Catherine eventually decides to invite Jason to the dance but it may be too late. Jason feels Catherine is embarrassed by him, but eventually comes to the dance once Catherine calls and apologizes. At the dance, Catherine uses more word cards that she has created for Jason to both tell and show him that she appreciates him even more so because of his differences. Catherine learns a lot through her experiences and relationships. She learns lessons about tolerance, acceptance, appreciation, and love.
In an age where so many more cases of autism are showing up each year, this book would be a great read aloud to introduce the topic of autism and other mental or communication disabilities which students could research afterward. It really shows what the family members of a person with any type of disability goes through in lessons on empathy and acceptance of others.