Preschool teacher read this in class and the kiddo came home talking about it, wanting to read it again.

Ian is a rule-follower; his older sister, Jenny, is not. When Ian and Jenny go on a vacation to a cabin in the woods with their dad, Jenny's rule-breaking gets her in trouble. Should Ian run and save himself? Or is there a rule about saving your sister? ( )

This book is about a boy and his on vacation with their father. The boy always follows the rules including ways bringing a toothbrush. His sister on the other hand never follows the rules including pinching her brother. While on vacation at their vacation home on the wall Isa set of rules. Four rules to be exact the last rule is to never open the red door. One day the boy and his sister were arguing because the sister was constantly breaking the houses rules. She threatened to open the red door and when she did nothing happened. The next morning the bathtub the stove and the bear skin rug came to life. They chased the boy and his sister all around the room calling them rule breakers. The boy told the monsters that his sister was the rule breaker. The monsters were about to have their way with his sister but the boys conscience would not let that happen. The boy came up with a clever plan To trick the monsters into thinking that they themselves were rulebreakers. This book was filled with suspense captivating illustrations and a great storyline by six and eight-year-old loved it and so did I. ( )

Summary: Ian always follows the rules but his sister Jenny always breaks them. When they go on a vacation with their dad the cabin has rules posted on the wall and Jenny breaks them all. The objects in the house come after Jenny for breaking the rules and her brother saves her from the monsters. ( )

Ian and his older sister Jenny find themselves confronting an unusual assortment of threatening creatures when they spend their vacation at a cabin in the woods in this humorous picture-book. As determined a rule-follower as Jenny is a determined rule-breaker, Ian observes all of the "rules of the house" posted by the cabin owner, while Jenny ignores them completely. When her actions in opening the red door - something forbidden by the final rule - cause the bearskin rug, claw-footed bathtub and pot-bellied stove to come alive and threaten to eat her, Ian is at first so terrified that he runs away. Only upon consideration does he realize that there might be a rule about not abandoning one's siblings to monsters. Returning to the cabin, he eventually realizes that he might have to break a rule (!!) in order to save her...

This new venture from Mac Barnett, whose previous forays into absurd humor for the picture-book set include such titles as Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem, Guess Again! and Oh No!: Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World, didn't quite live up to my expectations. Humor is an idiosyncratic thing, and somehow Rules of the House just didn't tickle my funny bone as I expected it to do, given my reaction to some of the author's other work. That said, it was a solidly engaging holiday story, one which incorporates classic themes such as sibling rivalry and the scary holiday cabin in the woods. Although I found the resolution somewhat contrived, I do appreciate the message that sometimes we have to choose between two worthy goals - telling the truth and saving a life, in this case - in deciding the correct course to follow. I only wish that it were presented in a more coherent way, one which deals with the complicated moral reasoning necessary to decide when to break the rules and when not to. Otherwise, I wonder if the message taken away is to stay true to one's values, except when the odds are against you. However that may be, this was still a fairly entertaining holiday tale, one with fun illustrations that capture the ups and downs of the tale. ( )