Catherine, an artist, yearns to enjoy the outdoors and to draw. Kristi wants to talk about boys and dating. It quickly becomes apparent that Kristi has interests that are very distinct from Catherine. About a third of the way through the book, she finally comes over to meet Catherine. The new girl next door, Kristi, is gradually introduced. Her mother frets that Catherine-who is incredibly self-sufficient-does not have enough summer activities to keep herself busy. Catherine’s mother is a work-from-home tax preparer who frequently asks Catherine to babysit her brother.

Her father, a pharmacist, is emotionally withdrawn from the family, always finding reasons to work late. Though he knows the rules well, he does not necessarily obey them. She has created a list of rules to help David understand how he should behave. Catherine frequently expresses a desire that David be cured of autism, something she knows will never transpire. Catherine soon uses her discretion to create new, more expressive words for the communication book.ĭavid is a constant source of embarrassment for Catherine as well as the target of taunting by her schoolmate, Ryan who lives at the end of the street. The two communicate with the help of his word book, a binder full of hand-written words on small white cards.

In the waiting room, Catherine develops a relationship with 14-year-old Jason, another patient who uses a wheelchair and is non-speaking. Catherine frequently rides with her mother to take David for treatment at an occupational therapy clinic. Meanwhile, she struggles with her eight-year-old brother David, who has autism and relies upon her constantly. While the narrative contains no foul language, it is realistic in depicting autism, other challenges, and the impacts of such conditions on families.Ĭatherine, the 12-year-old narrator of the book, is out of school for the summer and excited about the prospect of a new girl her age moving into the house next door. For Lord, telling the story of a tween girl who is trying to cope successfully with a family that relies upon her, while at the same time taking her for granted, created the opportunity to combine her own experiences of raising a child with autism and the impact the condition had on her entire family. Lord based the characters and much of the family dynamics on her own experiences in that she has a child who is on the autism spectrum.

Rules by cynthia lord sparknotes