Weekend Reads: Rules

This Friday's weekend reading comes from Marissa, 11, in New York. The book is Rules by Cynthia Lord. Enjoy your weekend and give yourself some time off, maybe by diving into a soul-satisfying book!

"Normal. Average. Regular. Twelve-year-old Catherine doesn't think least she doesn't think her family's normal. David, Catherine's younger brother, is autistic. David doesn't learn from watching others, so Catherine and her parents have to teach him everything.

Catherine is determined to create the illusion that her brother is like everybody else. So she creates rules to teach him. But he's not always is able to follow them. Every time Catherine encounters a new situation she creates a rule for David. 'Don't take your pants off in public,' or 'Sometimes people laugh when they like you. But sometimes they laugh to hurt you.'

But it's the summer where Catherine meets two new friends: One Kristi, her new next door neighbor, who could be everything she hoped for, and Jason, who can't talk, where Catherine's perspective is changed. She starts to think about what she has that Jason doesn't, and the way Kristi treats her and her brother. Catherine begins to wonder if there is only one normal or if there is an average after all.

This fantastic novel will make you think about reaction, perspective, and normalcy. I finished it in a day, the writing is great and the plot is intriguing."