Book review
Good reads:
When I consider what it would take to motivate an upper-elementary grades student to read, I think realistic fiction is an excellent genre to have them choose from at times. As students get older, they start to have more sophisticated thoughts, and they start to understand the world more, so reading about characters or events that could be real is a great way to have them immerse themselves in the story.
Rules, by Cynthia Lord, is a coming of age, realistic fiction story that provides a sneak peak into the summer of a 12-year-old girl named Catherine that changed her life. Catherine loves drawing, swimming in the pond, and Guinea pigs. With that description, she sounds typical, but she has a quality of thoughtfulness that goes beyond her years because she has a brother with Autism. With this book, readers get to see Catherine’s internal conflict between wanting to help her brother and vouch for him when he is bullied, but also being embarrassed by him in public. While Catherine has to learn to love her brother no matter what, she also has to deal with learning to not care what people think through a boy in a wheelchair, a bully, and a popular girl. I think that the rules that Catherine writes for her brother in this book are a reflection of what she wishes he would be, but he never quite meets those expectations that she has. This book makes you look at children with special needs in new ways, and it encourages you to think about what is important to you. This book also creatively reveals the thoughts and feelings of Catherine in a way that made me upset when she got frustrated with David, but rejoice with her when she made the right decisions. While one of the main takeaways of this book is that everyone wants to be accepted, readers get a refreshing perspective that people who have siblings with special needs have an equally hard time and that they need support too. This book was a WOW book for me because the reader really got to experience the change of heart that the main character had. It encourages readers to rethink what “normal” really means, and to worry less over what people think about you. If I teach upper grades one day, I want this book to be available for my students to read because adolescents are so easily impressionable.
This book could be used in so many ways in classrooms of fourth or fifth grade students. The themes, struggles, and conversations that happen in this book would be excellent for discussion and classroom activities. One idea that I had while reading this book came from page 19. When Catherine makes drawings, she really pays attention to detail to make the drawing come alive. When she met her friend Jason, who is confined to a wheel chair, she had a hard time looking at him at first because she was not sure how to react to him or approach him. She thought that drawing him might make it easier to appreciate him and said, “ Looking closer can make something beautiful” (pg. 19). Teachers could use this quote to have students think about something that makes them nervous or uncomfortable, looking up pictures of it, and then try drawing it like Catherine. The teacher could then have students pick out 3 details of what they drew that they like and never noticed before, to teach a lesson on how something good can be found in everything. Another great way this book can be used would be for a vocabulary enrichment time. On page 119, Catherine runs back and forth in her front yard in order to be able to think of more words to describe how it feels to run. Catherine sees how Jason has such awesome thoughts, but his word cards available to him in his communication book limit him. Teachers could have students pick an ordinary action or situation, and then have them brainstorm or use a thesaurus to find more complex words to describe it. Students could then come together as a class to share their new words, and also discuss how people with special needs have just as much to contribute to society. One other idea I had for instruction came from page 75, when Catherine says, “Some people think they know who you are, when really they don’t.” The teacher could have the students each draw themselves on chart paper, and then fill it up with words, phrases, and pictures that describe more about them than most people would know, and then share it with the class. This activity could lead into a discussion of how it would be boring if everyone was the same, and not judging others before you get to know them.
- Goodreads rating – 3.98
- DIGEST – Audrey Moore