Rules by Cynthia Lord

A Newbery Honor recipient, and a Schneider Family Book Award Winner, Rules by Cynthia Lord (Lexile: 780; Interest Level: Grades 3-6) tells the story of 12-year-old Catherine who is trying to have a normal life for herself despite her brother David's autism.  Then one summer a new girl moves in next door and Catherine meets a boy named Jason at the place where David attends occupational therapy.  As much as Catherine wants to be friends with pretty and sure-to-be-popular Kristi, she is really enjoying helping Jason by creating some new picture cards for his conversation books, and she is finding out that Jason has interesting ideas that he wants to share.  What should Catherine do when each friend invites her to a special event at the same time?  Can her two worlds be combined?

Fans of books like Wonder and Out of My Mind will enjoy Rules (and vice versa)!  It is a wonderful realistic fiction story about discovering what "normal" could mean.  (224 p.)

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