Rules (novel)

Rules

Author	Cynthia Lord
Language	English
Genre	Children's novel
Publisher	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date	2006
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback) also published in large type
Pages	200 pgs.
ISBN	9780439443821
OCLC	61109244
LC Class	PZ7.L87734 Rul 2006

Rules is the debut novel by author Cynthia Lord. Released by Scholastic, Inc. in 2006, it was a Newbery Honor book in 2007. It is also a Sunshine State Young Readers book for 2008-2009. The book also won her the Schneider Family Book Award.

Synopsis

The main character, Catherine Collins , is a 12-year-old-girl; her eight year old brother, David, has Autism and Catherine explains how this makes her life complicated and causes her to wish that her life was a bit more "normal". She is compiling a list of rules for David so that he can understand how the world works.

One time when she and her mom take David to OT, she attempts to sketch a picture of a 14 or 15 year old boy named Jason who cannot speak and uses a wheelchair (he is suffering from cerebral palsy, presumably). He uses a communication book to talk. Jason seems to be quite fond of her, and have a crush on her as well. Her new friend/neighbor Kristi asked about him and if he'd want to join Catherine at the community center dance (where Kristi volunteered at). The only thing was, Catherine never mentioned Jason's disabilities since she didn't know how Kristi and her friend Ryan would react. By the end of the book,Catherine realizes that being different isn't bad, and she begins to ask herself this: What is Normal? Then she understands that normal is who she wants to be and not who her friends want her to be.

Inspiration

In 2000, the author decided to write a middle-grade novel, and I followed the advice of "write what you know." I have two children, one of whom has ADHD, and RULES explores that family dynamic.

David is based loosely upon my son when he was a young child. Some incidents in the book came from real experience: I was always stopping my son because he was out of control and my son did love Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad books but had difficulty sitting still when having them read to him. However, most of the events, details, and characters in RULES came from my imagination.

James whom is David's best friend is based on my husband when he was a kid. He was friends with a kid who had ADHD and he had quirky and madcap experiences because of that.

Jason was inspired by a boy I saw one day and have never forgotten. I was at the park while my son and his friend George played, and suddenly a boy came into the waiting room. He was in a wheelchair and used a communication book. I glanced up and made assumptions that were blown apart seconds later, when he and his mother had the most amazing and witty conversation. She spoke out loud; he communicated by touching his pictures.

All those threads of experience began weaving themselves into a story. The first line I ever wrote on the first blank page was: “At our house, we have a rule,” and the story, the characters, the title, all sprang from that seed.

I took the story as far as I could, and after many polishing passes and feedback from my critique partners, I looked through the Children Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market to see who might be a good publishing match.

I paused at Scholastic’s entry. When I was growing up, my teacher would hand out Scholastic Book Clubs fliers, and my mother let me order 3 books each time. I remember the excitement I felt: the coins rolling back and forth in the envelope as I walked up to hand it to the teacher, and those glassy-smooth covers and the crackling newness of the books when they came. I still have some of the books I bought as a child through those book clubs, with my name written in big, loopy handwriting on the inside cover. i loved to write my name in it when i really was not supposed to!

But the line “1% of books by first-time authors” in the market book for Scholastic, was daunting. My husband shrugged when I showed him and said, “Well, someone has to be that one percent, why not you?” ha ha

In November 2001, I got the phone call every writer dreams of receiving. It was an editor at Scholastic saying she’d like to buy my book. I was too excited to remember much about that call, but I think I said mostly intelligent things like, “Oh, um, wow! Yes, uh, OK.”

Getting the call may sound like “The end,” but that was also a beginning, a corner-turning to a new hallway. The revision process is a time of refining, of letting go and holding on, of re-imagining characters and events to bring them into sharper focus.

It’s been a long road from that first “At our house, we have a rule” to this moment, but it’s also been a glorious discovery, a journey I am both humbled and amazed to have taken. yes