The novel Rules by Cynthia Lord shows the struggles of a middle school girl trying to control her unpredictable brother with autism. Catherine is very worried about her image, which is why she keeps a set of rules for eight year old David to follow so that she can try to make him fit in. Meanwhile, Catherine is trying to find ways to make her new next door neighbor Kristi become her best friend. Catherine likes to tag along with her mom and David when they go to the autism clinic, where Catherine becomes friends with a teenage boy named Jason, who is unable to speak or walk. Along the way the author of Rules makes sure to get the message across that “you’ve got work with what you’ve got.”

One of the most important moments in Rules is when Catherine actually breaks the rules. Catherine never really lets loose, or others do their own thing. It all started at the clinic when Jason described his feelings of being trapped in a wheelchair to Catherine. Catherine decides she wants Jason to experience the feeling of freedom. She does that by taking Jason out into the parking lot. There, Catherine wheels Jason around really fast; everybody starts to stare. For once in her life, Catherine does not care what other people think of her. Jason feels like a new person. This is a unique scene because Catherine usually does not call attention to herself. In another scene, Catherine speaks out when her school mate Ryan is mean to her brother. Even though Ryan knows that David is autistic, he still teases him by offering David a piece of gum that turns out to be an empty wrapper. Catherine reacts by yelling at Ryan for confusing her brother and storming off. This is a very important moment because Catherine shows a new side of herself by standing up for her brother in public. Another fascinating scene is when we meet Catherine’s father for the first time, while he is tending his beloved tomatoes. Catherine walks outside to ask her dad if they could do something fun together, her dad’s responded, “Maybe later. I am busy with the tomatoes.” “That made me wonder if the dad love his tomatoes more than he loves his own kids.” I think that is wrong because Catherine helps David out so much; you would think her dad would have a little respect for Catherine.

Three adjectives to describe Catherine are controlling, protective, and an imagineer. She is controlling because Catherine keeps a set of rules for David on how to live his life. Also if David does not follow them she gets really angry and frustrated. Catherine is protective because when Ryan the bully tried to trick David, Catherine got really mad at Ryan and started saying mean thing to him. The last thing is that Catherine likes to imagen because she thinks Kristi “her next door neighbor” is different than she really is, like Catherine makes up these adventures that the two of them are going to have, but they never have them. One important quote that Catherine said was “my one wish is that my brother would be normal.” That quote makes me think Catherine does not really accept David, with the disabilities that he has.

I have enjoyed Rules very much because the author has a lot of detail in the book, and you can really understand each and every character. Also I love learning about autism as I read the book. One interesting thing I learned about autism is that kids always like to do something with their hands. I really recommend Rules to fourth graders and fifth graders, because it is a two hundred page book, and it is a very quick read. Also it teaches you “readers” a lot about autism, and autism is really interesting. I think Rules is really unique, because I have never seen or read a book about how a boy with autism communicates with his older sister Catherine. Overall, I rate Rules five stars.