Summary: The book Rules is about Catherine, a young girl who is learning to understand and positively deal with David, her younger brothers’ autism. She seeks to live a normal life, without stares or judgment from people wherever she goes, but she feels that David hinders her ability because he is the cause of the stares. Her family seems to only care about David and Catherine feels like she has fallen to the wayside. Catherine develops a list of rules for David to follow so she can try to hold a grip on his behavior. It isn’t until her visits with her mom and David to his doctor become more frequent, that she starts to develop a friendship with a boy, Jason, whom also goes to the same doctor’s office every week for speech therapy. In her friendship with him, she begins to see her brother in a different light as well as her own behavior.
Implementation: I would use this book with a group of 4th or 5th graders. At this age they are mature enough to handle answers to questions they’ve had for years about the “class that is different from them.” In the field experience this year, our teacher asked us to do a diversity lesson on differences; whether it be down’s syndrome, ADD/ADHD, autism, aspergers, etc. In reading this book, many questions will arise that will lead to rich discussion that will allow students to begin to understand that everyone around them is different but it shouldn’t change their behavior.
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