Rules follows the story of Catherine, a twelve-year-old girl who feels torn between her responsibilities as the older sister of David, who has autism, and her desire to make friends and fit in. As Catherine navigates the complexities of family life and middle school, she learns valuable lessons about empathy, acceptance, and the true meaning of friendship. Through her interactions with Jason, a nonverbal boy who communicates using a communication board, Catherine discovers the importance of embracing differences and being true to oneself. In the classroom, Rules can be used to promote discussions about empathy, acceptance, and understanding differences. Teachers can guide students in exploring the experiences of individuals with autism and discussing ways to create inclusive and supportive environments for people of all abilities

Fantastic book to teach your students in upper elementary about acceptance, differences, respect and autism. Catherine is a 12 year old who wants to live a normal life. She has a brother with autism, named David, that is the family's main focus. Catherine helps her brother is this heartwarming book cope with having autism. She teaches his the "rules" about the real world, but was is normal anyways? ( )

It took me a long time to finally get around to reading this book! I liked it, but it was not what I expected.

First, I had this impression that it would be funnier and warmer, but it was very angsty. A book like this could easily be in the teen section of the library as well as the children's.

Second, Katherine (Catherine? I listened to the audio book) had a more interesting relationship with Jason, a boy around her age with cerebral palsy, than with her brother David who has autism. Jason can't speak and communicates by pointing at word cards. Katherine decides to make him more word cards, which was a great literary device and really contributed a lot to the theme of coping with disabilities. Still, I expected the book to be more about Katherine's relationship with her brother, and I was surprised that it wasn't the main focus and didn't change a lot through the course of the book.

Last, the audiobook narrator was, I think, the same actor who does the voice of Clementine. It made me think Catherine was so young! The narrator did a fine job (I wouldn't say she STINKS A BIG ONE), but it wasn't ideal for me because I've listened to several of the Clementine books.

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A great novel that I have read quite a few times. The main character Catherine is an appealing and relatable character who tries to balance her love for her special needs brother with her resentment of his special needs. She has believable growth through the story and comes to understand that her embarrassment is for herself rather than for her brother. It is an interesting story that sees Catherine realize that real friends will not judge her for her circumstances. ( )

"Rules" has both a Newberry award and a Schneider Family Book award. The book follows Caroline, a 12-year-old with a brother, David, who has a disability. She tries to teach David the "rules" of society and how he should act to keep him from embarrassing her and himself. Caroline eventually makes a new friend and must navigate the struggles of her new relationship while dealing with the stigma surrounding her brother's disability.
This book could be used to bring awareness and understanding to disabilities and could be used to educate students on how to appropriately interact with students with disabilities.
"Rules" highlights the disabled community and the struggles they and their families face, as well as the struggles students, experience while trying to fit in with their peers ( )