Rules- Realistic Fiction

Rules

By: Cynthia Lord

Catherine is a twelve-year-old girl that longs for a normal life. However, because her brother, David, has autism, her life is anything but normal. She is constantly embarrassed by David, so she creates rules for him to follow to help her avoid humiliation. Catherine meets Jason, a deaf boy bound to a wheel chair, at David’s clinic, who can communicates through the use of word cards. She quickly becomes friends with him. However, that summer she meets her new next-door neighbor, Kristi, the kind of friend Catherine has always wished for. Not wanting to be embarrassed about David or Jason’s disabilities, and wanting her new neighbor to think of her as normal, Catherine tries to hide this part of her life from Kristi. But how long can she keep this up? This forces Catherine to consider David and Jason’s point of view, and she must decide which is worth the risk of being “normal?" But when Kristi invites Catherine to a community dance, she is challenged whether or not to invite Jason, because Kristi does not know about his disability. After hurting Jason's feelings, Catherine learns that even with his disability, Jason is one of the best friends that she could ask for.   

This would be a good read aloud to do at the beginning of the year to help build a classroom community. The book shows the importance of the acceptance of others, despite their differences. Each student comes into a classroom different from everyone else. We would discuss that everyone is unique, and that we should accept people for the way that they are. We would also discuss the rules that Catherine made for David, and I would have the students create rules and tips for themselves about how to treat their classmates. The students would be held accountable of ensuring that they followed their rules about respecting their peer.

Check out my PinDax Message Board:
http://pindax.com/messageBoard.asp?bid=7422