BOOK NAME: Rules
AUTHOR: Cynthia Lord

This story is about a 12 year old named Catherine who longs for a normal life. But she has a brother, David, with autism and the spotlight is on him constantly. There’s always something that needs to be done for him: go to therapy, go to the doctor, etc… She thinks he makes her look bad in front of her friends all the time. That’s why she teaches her brother rules like “no toys in the fish tank,” “if it’s too loud cover your ears or ask the other person to be quiet,” “sometimes you got to work with what you got,” and other things to keep her brother in order. She learns never to trust a sibling unless your parents tell you to.

I would recommend this book to anyone because you can relate to the emotions being expressed in it. Its emotional scenes draw you right into the book. I also liked this book’s humor and easy style atmosphere. I thought the cover was very attractive too. I can relate to this book because I also have two siblings. They are not as predictable as Catherine’s, but can be just as annoying. In the end, she learns that just because David has autism, it doesn’t mean he’s not smart. Kind of reminds me of the saying “you can’t judge a book by its cover!”