Rules by Cynthia Lord

Paperback 208 pages

Published April 1, 2006, by Scholastic Press

Rating 3,5 stars

I forgot exactly when I bought this paperback book. And I even forgot why I was into this book that I wanted to own it hahaha.... #sillyme

At first, I thought this story is about someone having autism that has rules in his life. But then, it turns out that I was wrong since this story is about Catherine, an older sister of David who has autism. She sets a lot of rules for David. She doesn't have too many 'don'ts' actually, but she indeed has some. Some rules are really trivial but even so, some normal people need to learn some of the rules David must learn.

Some of Catherine's thoughts remind me of Auggie's sister in Wonder when she expects to have a 'normal brother'. She didn't explicitly say that she's embarrassed to have David as her brother, but the way she protected him for exposing him in public shows it.

Catherine really loves drawing. Every time she accompanies her mom to have a treatment on David in a hospital, her drawing tools always come with her. One day, she draws Jason, another patient of the hospital needs therapy. He either couldn't walk or talk, but he hears fine. He communicates with his communication book, through words and drawings his mom made him. With this sudden encounter, Catherine finds about the truth of how disabled people truly feel.

I wonder why I abandoned this book for so long while it is so good. I love the way the writer sets rules. It shows that some people with autism really need to learn some rules since they couldn't figure them out by themselves. Even so, some normal people couldn't apply what Catherine sets there. For example: when someone says 'hi', you say 'hi' back. This is really conditional judging who says hi to us. Do we have to say hi, too, when someone who says hi is someone you try to avoid? David wouldn't think about that. But in reality, for the sake of being friendly, why not say hi, too? :D Whoever who says hi? :D

The most interesting and notable rule by Catherine is: Sometimes people laugh when they like you. But sometimes they laugh to hurt you.

Ouch. Ouch.