Rules
by Cynthia Lord
Presentation by Mr. Hanson
Who is Rules about?
• A girl named Catherine has a brother named
David, and he is autistic.
• A new girl named Kristi moves in next door to
Catherine, and Catherine wants to be friends
with her
• Catherine also meets a boy named Jason who
is in a wheelchair and can’t speak
What happens in Rules?
• The book is set in a small town in Maine.
• Our main character Catherine tries to make
lots of rules so that David “fits in” (wear your
pants in public, if you don’t have words use
Frog and Toad)
• She then meets a boy that she likes named
Jason, and she is a bit embarrassed to like him
What else happens in Rules?
• Catherine wants to be friends with Kristi, but wants to
keep the other stuff secret
• Catherine is really worried that other people won’t like
her because of the things that aren’t “normal”
• Eventually there is a dance, and Kristi suggests
Catherine should bring Jason
• Catherine says she won’t go, making excuses because
she is embarrassed
• What will happen in the end? You’ll need to read it to
find out whether Catherine rethinks her idea of
“normal”
Who would like this?
Rules definitely isn’t for everyone. It doesn’t
have lots of action, and has Catherine thinking
to herself a lot. It can be a bit slow sometimes.
But people who would like this are:
-People who liked the Penderwicks
-People that like girl main characters
-People that like books talking about big issues
(right/wrong, good/bad, normal or not)
-Kids in 4th, 5th, 6th grade (Catherine is 12!)
I would rate the book (out of 5):
My Favorite Part
I had lots of favorite parts. But the best part of
the book was reading the chapter titles. They
were the different rules that Catherine told
David. Some of my favorites were:
– When you want to get out of answering something, distract the
questioner with another question.
– Not everything worth keeping has to be useful
– If the bathroom door is closed, knock!
– Pantless brothers are not my problem.