Review: Rules by Cynthia Lord

4 stars for Rules by Cynthia Lord.

This is a story that will help readers be more understanding towards people with disabilities.

12-year old Catherine always hopes for normal in her family but she knows it will never be; her 8-year old brother David is autistic. To help her brother understands how other people behave and how the world works, Catherine creates a list of rules for her brother. But her brother does not always follow her rules and worst still, he set his own rules.

This novel is heartwarming and inspiring, but it is also kind of sad and disappointing and frustrating. It is never easy living with someone with a severe disability.

The story teaches us that we do not always get what we wish for. Sometimes things are simply beyond our control. We do not get to choose our family, we are born into them. If ony one of the family members is born with special needs, the entire family have to take it in stride and move forward. Because Mother Earth does not stop rotating. Because the sun still rises in the east. Life still goes on.

The story also teaches us that sometimes what we hope for and what we get in return can be very different. Take the new next-door neighbour for example, the friendship that Catherine hopes to have with the new girl turns out to be very different from what she has in mind. She hopes for this friendship to blossom but instead makes an unexpected friendship of another kind in return.

Perhaps what I like most in the teachings of this story is making the efforts to spend time with family. It is always disheartening to read about parents procrastinating on spending quality time with their children. Children only grow up once and before we know it, our children will not want to spend time with the parents but with their friends instead. In the story, one of the parents is seen giving empty promises to the child just to stop the child from asking again. Well, work is never finished. If the parents are too busy with work to spend time with their children, why have children in the first place?

Overall, Rules is a good family story. It highlights the challenges and difficulties families with autistic members may face, but it also features the joys and human kindness that come with living and loving a person with special needs. This book is informative reading for anyone who is interested, and especially suitable for siblings and friends of autistic children. Autism is not an illness, and definitely not something abominable. It is just a person whose mind is wired differently, and for us to get to know this person who is different from the rest of us.


Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks; Reprint edition
Publication date: 1 Sep 2008

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RULES FOR DAVID

If the bathroom door is closed, knock! (especially if Catherine has a friend over).
Say thank you when someone gives you a present (even if you don't like it).
Don't stand in front of the TV when other people are watching it.
A boy takes off his shirt to swim, but not his shorts.
Some people think they know who you are, when really they don't.
No toys in the fishtank.

Twelve year old Catherine just wants a normal life, but she thinks that's impossible with a family that revolves around her brother's autism.

But what is normal?

*Blurb from author's website*

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