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Rules (Newbery Honor Book) (Hardcover) (精装)
by Cynthia Lord
| Category:
Children's book, Story, Family, Autistic child |
| Market price: ¥ 178.00
MSL price:
¥ 158.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
This is a story about a family that has an autistic child and a non autistic child-telling us to embrace differences and accepting people as they are. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 10 items |
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Emily Kate (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-25 00:00>
Yesterday I read this beautiful book. Rules by Cynthia Lord is a poignant story showing a slice of 12-year-old Catherine's life. Her brother, David has autism. Catherine lovingly makes up rules to help him get through life. Things that other people figure out for themselves, David must be taught. Some of the rules include "If the bathroom door is closed, knock (especially if Catherine has a friend over)!", "Keep your pants on! Unless Mom, Dad, or the doctor tells you to take them off.", and "No toys in the fish tank."
Catherine is not only a sister to David, though. She is an artist, a daughter, a friend. When a new girl moves next door, Catherine is hopeful that they will become good friends. But she is embarrassed to say anything about David. She also develops a close bond with a handicapped boy who cannot speak or walk. She draws pictures for him to help him communicate.
Cynthia Lord has done an incredible job tackling a heavy topic. The book is laced with both humor and tenderness.
I highly recommend this book for all ages.
As you can see, Rules won a Newbery Honor and the Schneider Family Book Award in 2006. |
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A Kid's Review (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-25 00:00>
Can you imagine a life where your older sister writes a set of rules for you, so you don't embarrass her? Or on the flip side, can you imagine having a younger autistic brother who might pull off his pants in public? In the realistic fiction novel Rules by Cynthia Lord, twelve-year old Catherine deals with accepting her autistic brother for how he is and meeting her new friends.
Catherine is an ordinary girl who doesn't know how to deal with having an autistic brother. Continuously wishing for a "normal brother," Catherine writes a set of rules for David such as "chew with your mouth closed," or "if the bathroom door is closed, knock" (especially if Catherine has a friend over), so one day he just might "wake up a regular brother." Catherine usually accompanies her mom when David goes to Occupational Therapy, where David learns different games and tasks like jumping on a trampoline. She meets a fourteen or fifteen year old boy name Jason, who can't talk and is in a wheelchair. He uses a communication book to speak. In his book are various cards which have a word or a phrase on it. Many times his sentences aren't proper and don't have helping verbs such as is, did, and does. This is a particular sentence which explains his lack of language arts skills, What? Guinea pig.Eat., when someone else says this sentence it comes out to be What does Guinea pigs eat?
Also, Catherine has a new neighbor name Kristi who she has to accept. Kristi hangs out with Ryan, a boy who makes fun of David; Catherine has a hard time trying to be cool around her as well. Catherine also has a hard time accepting Kristi into her life because she's afraid of what she'll think of David. Catherine is a protective sister but at the same time she just wants to fit in. Catherine has to accept these three people in her life and also tries to find herself through the process.
I would recommend this book to kids between the ages of 10-14. This book would suit someone who wants to learn about a normal girl with disabilities shown in her life. Cynthia Lord's book was based on her life having a child with autism and another who doesn't. Cynthia is portraying life through the eyes of the forgotten child; when a disability such as autism is present and all the attention goes towards that child. After reading this book, I hope you'll view life with an autistic or disabled child differently. This book is phenomenal!
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-25 00:00>
Like many of the books involving autistic children, this focuses on a pre-teen sister of a boy with autism. It does cover some of the behavior involved with her brother, the embarassment she feels when he does things he should not in public, and her friendship with a boy suffering from another disability in depth from her point of view.
The story is as seen from a young girl's eyes. I'm having my daughter read it since her brother has autism, to see if it helps her. I think she'll enjoy it, and maybe write down some rules of her own, though our autistic child is not nearly so developed as David in the book. |
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John Burns (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-25 00:00>
This book is a study more than a story. Yes there is a story in the study, but the study of a family that has an autistic child and a non autistic child. Autism is incredibly difficult on a family that wants to have a normal social life but perhaps even more difficult on the "normal" child who must spend many devoted hours a day babysitting the sibling that never grows up, but lives by rules. Without "rules" in the autistic child would have so much more difficulty living in the world of "normal people."
The real value I see in this book is the study of what the family must go through to raise the autistic child. Through this study we learn to appreciate that family's capacity love - outside of what is normal. The book even goes so far as to ask the reader, what normal is.
If you or someone in your family has to deal with children with autism, either in or outside your home, then this is an important book to read. If you feel the need to know more about how a family struggles to stay together and the burden that an autistic child places on the family unit, or if you want to read about the extraordinary tolerance, the frustration and the sometime uncanny wit that might occur because of the autistic child - than this book is for you.
I am giving this book 4 stars because it makes us aware of the sensitivity of the subject matter.
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Lorel Shea (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-25 00:00>
As the parent of an autism spectrum kid, I sit here desperate to communicate just how deeply this book moved me. Ms. Lord does an amazing job of capturing the autistic family. I say family rather than child, because autism affects everyone in the child's life and not just the individual. It can be very hard to feel normal when at home everything revolves around a person with special needs.
Our protagonist,Catherine, is a sweet, somewhat shy girl who loves to draw. She alternates between acting as her autistic brother's protector and being embarrassed by his behavior. David is four years younger than Catherine and obsessive about Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad. A particularly poignant touch is the way that Catherine and David communicate with eachother by reciting lines from these classic friendship stories. My son often used lines from computer games to communicate when he was younger, as he couldn't understand that others did not have the same frame of reference. This sort of attention to detail is what allows Lord to tell her story so realistically.
The characters are all richly painted and believeable. I'd like to call Catherine's mom and invite her over for tea. I'd tell her that it's ok to bring David; I don't mind if he pokes in my closets. :)
This is a story about embracing differences and accepting people as they are. I highly recommend it for both boys and girls aged ten to adult. |
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Lorel Shea (MSL quote), New England
<2007-06-25 00:00>
As the parent of an autism spectrum kid, I sit here desperate to communicate just how deeply this book moved me. Ms. Lord does an amazing job of capturing the autistic family. I say family rather than child, because autism affects everyone in the child's life and not just the individual. It can be very hard to feel normal when at home everything revolves around a person with special needs.
Our protagonist,Catherine, is a sweet, somewhat shy girl who loves to draw. She alternates between acting as her autistic brother's protector and being embarrassed by his behavior. David is four years younger than Catherine and obsessive about Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad. A particularly poignant touch is the way that Catherine and David communicate with eachother by reciting lines from these classic friendship stories. My son often used lines from computer games to communicate when he was younger, as he couldn't understand that others did not have the same frame of reference. This sort of attention to detail is what allows Lord to tell her story so realistically.
The characters are all richly painted and believeable. I'd like to call Catherine's mom and invite her over for tea. I'd tell her that it's ok to bring David; I don't mind if he pokes in my closets.
This is a story about embracing differences and accepting people as they are. I highly recommend it for both boys and girls aged ten to adult. |
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Jennie (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-25 00:00>
Catherine is a twelve year old girl whose little brother, David, has autism. On one hand she is fiercely protective of him but on the other, she is mortified when he does embarrassing things that could potentially mess up her relationships. She doesn't give her friends nearly enough credit in understanding about David, but she's been burned in the past. To help David be less embarassing, Catherine writes him rules about day-to-day life. No toys in the fish tank. It's ok to yell on the playground, but not during dinner. Over time, a lot of these rules are obviously more for Catherine than for David.
Catherine's best friend is away is away for the summer and there's a new family moving in next door. Catherine has high hopes for her friendship with Kristi, but, like real life, not everything goes as she wished it would--and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
When Catherine accompanies David to therapy, she meets Jason, who is in a wheel chair and can't talk. Jason has a book of cards with pictures and words that he points to in order to communicate. Catherine starts drawing him more cards, including nebulous concepts like "murky" and "unfair". Catherine again tries to balance fitting in with her "normal" friends and classmates, and her friendship with Jason. Jason was a really interesting character that continued to surprise me, and I wish we saw even more of him.
One of my favorite parts of this book were when Catherine was trying to figure out what to draw for abstract ideas. My other favorite part was the struggle Catherine had in trying to be understanding of David, but feeling overshadowed by him in the family dynamic and needing her parents to sometimes focus exclusively on her. I think it was a very real, if not pretty, look at what it means to be in a family with someone who requires so much attention and energy.
I also liked how, when David couldn't put his thoughts and feelings into words, would quote extensively from the Frog and Toad books by Lobel. It was heartbreaking and hilarious.
My main quibble is with the ending- it was overly tidy and neat while at the same time not really solving anything. It tarnished the rest of the wonderful book for me.
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E. R. Bird (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-25 00:00>
When you read a bad book, the aftermath of the experience can leave you shell-shocked for quite a long period of time. Not too long ago I came across the regrettable "The Boy Who Ate Stars" by Kochka and I had a hard time recovering. Kochka, in my view, approached the subject of autism in children as a kind of wild kids-in-touch-with-their-animal side type of story. The whole project left me disappointed and wary of any books written with child audiences in mind that dealt with autism. But then I saw "RULES" and I became sorely tempted to give it a go. From its thoroughly engaging cover (you hear me publishers?) to its incredible characters, smart plotting, and all around classy style, I would recommend this book to any and every child I ran across. This is how it's done people. This is how you write a first novel.
Now where to begin? I suppose if you asked Catherine herself she'd begin with David. Everyone else seems to after all. David's eight and autistic. I'm sure you've heard stories of autistic children and the difficulties they have dealing with the world around them, but has anyone ever stopped to consider the problems their older sisters face? Sisters like Catherine who'd do anything to have a "normal" life with a "normal" little brother. Not that Catherine isn't a good sister to David. She's constantly creating rules for him that will, ideally, help him deal with the real world. Now a new girl has moved in next door to Catherine and her family. She would love to make Kristi a friend, but there's always the threat that this new girl would be overly freaked out by David. And then there's Jason, the wheelchair bound boy she knows from Jason's occupational therapy visits. Pretty soon Catherine's going to have to decide what kind of a friend she's really looking for. And the answer may not be the one she has either expected or wanted.
Lord cleverly begins each chapter heading with one of the rules Catherine has concocted for David's convenience. Of course, not all the rules apply to David. Some of them are the kids of things Catherine has come up with to get by in life. For example there's, "If you don't want to do something, say, `Hmmm. I'll think about it' and maybe the asker will forget the whole bad idea". My favorite chapter heading? The one that completely does away with any pretense that these rules are actually for David. In short, "Pantless brothers are not my problem". Nuff said.
One of the many things I loved about this book was how Lord chose to present David. I am so sick of the autistic/handicapped/mentally challenged children's book character that has to act out the standard saintly two-dimensional role too long carved out in literature. David is a real kid. Yeah, he has autism. Sure. But he also cares deeply for his sister, even to the point where he can engage in a little fishtank-related mischief on the side. Catherine has a rule that there should be no toys in the fish tank. Yet turn around for half a second and there goes David tossing a Barbie or other toy in the briny depths. Younger brother annoyances pure and simple. And Catherine, for her part, is just as real a kid. Do you think she wants to constantly hang out with and babysit her little brother when she'd rather be out getting a new best friend? Heck no! Her attitude towards her little brother is incredibly realistic. On the one hand she'd love it if, "someone would invent a pill so David'd wake up one morning without autism". But then she's really a good sister who willingly tags along to her brother's occupational therapy sessions.
Some people I've discussed "RULES" with were a little put out that Lord never comes and out says why Jason is the way he is. He sound paraplegic to me, but that's just a guess. Also, it was very interesting how Lord chose to have Catherine want desperately to have Kristi as a friend, even though her real best friend would be back at the end of the summer. Why didn't the book make Catherine one hundred percent friendless? Would that have made her seem too desperate or pandering for attention? Hard to say.
In the end, the real key to the charm of "RULES" is the book's accessibility. This is a fun read. A fun, not too long, not too drawn out read. It doesn't preach and it doesn't simplify. What it does do is present an original story from a unique perspective. I would be intrigued to hear what real siblings of autistic children think of Lord's work. One of the rare well-written works of literature for young 'uns that kids may actually want to read and reread. In the same class as, "Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key".
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A Kid's Review (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-25 00:00>
Can you imagine living in a world where everything else was more important than you are? Can you picture living a life that is anything but normal, well to you anyway? This is the way Catherine feels about her life with her younger brother, in Cynthia Lord's novel Rules.
Rules is a fictional story by Cynthia Lord. This is Cynthia Lord's first novel.
Catherine is a 12-year-old girl, attempting to live a "normal" life. She is a protective older sister who defends her younger autistic brother. She tries extremely hard to help him fit in with everyone else, when in reality David doesn't care. Catherine feel she always comes second, but then feels guilty because she knows David can't help the way he is. Catherine faces many internal conflicts through the summer during which the story is set.
All Catherine wants is a normal life. But her dream seems impossible to reach when she has a younger brother with autism, causing her family and now seeming like her entire life to revolve around his disability. To head off David's embarrassing ways, Catherine writes rules for him. David loves rules. Catherine's rules range from "no toys in the fish tank" to "keep your pants on in public." But one summer there seems to be a glimmer of hope for Catherine's "normal life" dream. When Kristi moves in next door, Catherine keeps imagining all the wonderful things they can do together. The best part is they can walk places, without David having to come along! Then Catherine meets Jason, a mute 14-year-old boy who lives his life in a wheelchair. Catherine is surprised to find herself good friends with him. Catherine sees how her behavior with Jason is completely different with Kristi and feels guilty about it. For example, the way she doesn't tell Kristi who Jason really is and how she avoids Kristi when she is with Jason. All of this makes her wonder, what is normal?
I would recommend Rules because it is a humorous story that includes warmth and strength. If you like internal conflict or if you feel your life is a bit less than normal, you would enjoy this story.
Before reading Rules, I thought it would be a very emotional story with lots of drama. I found that it was emotional story but Cynthia Lord was able to tie in humorous events and life lessons to make the situations less intense and to not seem so hopeless. I can't wait for more books by this talented author.
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-25 00:00>
You can always tell when you're reading a book that has a basis in truth. With RULES, author Cynthia Lord writes about what it's like to live with autism, and she should know, since she has an autistic child.
That ring of truth is there, in every word, when you read the story of twelve-year old Catherine and her autistic younger brother, David.David hates loud noises. If there's a cloud in the sky, he has to take his red umbrella with him. If his dad says he'll be home at five o'clock, David starts going crazy at five-oh-one. He likes to rewind his movie of Thomas the Tank Engine to his favorite part, over and over and over again. His favorite place to visit is the video store, where he'll even lay on the floor to read the back of the movie box a stranger is holding in his hand. And he knows all the words to Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad.
For Catherine, though, it's a much different story. She hates the way people stare at her brother, or even worse, refuse to look at him at all. She's jealous of the time David gets to spend, one-on-one, with their pharmacist father. She hates David's rules, the strict adherence to which he is obsessed with them, and yet she makes new rules for him every time she thinks of something else he needs to know.
Catherine copes by drawing, and one day she decides to draw the boy in the wheelchair who is in the waiting room with her at Occupational Therapy. David goes there once a week to work with a therapist, and so does the boy who doesn't speak but instead uses a book of word cards to communicate. When Catherine offers to make Jason, the boy in the wheelchair, some new cards with pictures, an unlikely friendship is born. Catherine is also excited about Kristi, her new next-door neighbor, but soon finds out that friendship is a complicated matter.
How do you protect a brother that often annoys you? How can you be friends with the beautiful girl next door and yet be ashamed to admit your friend Jason doesn't talk and is in a wheelchair? How do you make your father understand that you matter, too? How do you tell your mother that even though David needs his own words, Frog and Toad is a special communication between a brother and sister that love each other? RULES isn't just a book about autism, but rather a look into the complexities of a family relationship. An excellent read for anyone who has ever had to deal with someone who is just a little bit different than everyone else.
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1 Total 1 pages 10 items |
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