Literature Circle

Pages 1-50

Summarizer: Right from the beginning we find out why the book is called Rules. Catherine, the main character in the book, narrates her experiences as an older sister of a brother with autism. These experiences include the bus ride on the last day of school, going to the clinic with David and her mom, sitting outside waiting for the arrival of her new neighbors and being introduced to Jason, boy who is in a wheelchair receiving services in speech therapy. Also, the text in the book is constantly interrupted by the rules that Catherine is teaching David and keeping track of in a notebook.

Travel Tracer: Catherine’s life is a busy one! As we try to sequence the first fifty pages we see that she begins by getting home from school with David. While they have some time before they go to the clinic, she goes outside to draw, but is interrupted by David. Catherine, David and their mom go to the clinic for David’s services. They come back from the clinic and wait for dad by counting cars. Dad comes home late and takes David to the video store while Catherine stays behind. For Catherine, there seems to be very little alone time unless David is somewhere else, and most of her experiences she speaks about are connected to David in some way.

Connector: Life seems like it can be a whirlwind for all of us. Just like Catherine’s mom suggests to Catherine, we all sign up for various sports, activities or interests to fill up the minutes in a day. It might be hard to tell someone no unless it was to go to the video store with your younger brother, therefore it might be useful to just say, “hmmmm, let me think about it.”

Director: How else might this connect with our own lives? Does anyone have a younger sibling?

Connector: Yes! I have younger brothers and they always seem to act up when I am with my friends. Also, I am forced to watch them a lot of the time! If other people give them trouble though, like Ryan the neighborhood boy who mocks David on the bus, I will always be there for my brothers. Even if they do some of the worst things at the worst time or whether it fits the time and place, just like Catherine’s new neighbor’s first impression, they are still my younger brothers. I have responsibilities, just like Catherine, to watch over them and help them mature.