Rating: 1.1.1
Recommended audience: 8 and up
Category: Juvenile, YA fiction
Review: 4.5/5
This is a wonderful book about 12 year-old Catherine who struggles to live a "normal" life with an autistic brother, 8 year-old David. Catherine is a protective big sister who loves her brother but also feels frustrated that their family seems to revolve around David and his needs. I really enjoyed this book but it did hit a little close to home. My two-year-old son does not have autism but is developmentally delayed and sees a speech therapist and occupational therapist like those talked about in the book. The sign language and the picture cards that are mentioned in the book are very familiar to me. I found myself getting a little depressed when the struggles of this family became very difficult, and I envisioned us in a similar position someday. I don't think we actually will have the same struggles but I did identify with them to some degree, so Rules was a little hard to read at times. Even so, I highly recommend this Newbery Honor book. My 8 year-old daughter read it before I got a chance to read it, and she really liked it too.
3 comments:
Sounds like a good book. What year did it win Newbery Honor?
It won the Newbery Honor just last year for 2007 along with "Hattie Big Sky" and "Penny from Heaven". I've heard great things about "Hattie" and not such great things about "The Higher Power of Lucky" which won the Newbery Medal. I haven't read either of those yet but sometimes I really wonder how they choose the Newbery's.
I really liked this book. It was a honest look at what it's probably like for a child to live with a family member with special needs.
I've read and reviewed all of the above books that you mentioned above. I really liked Hattie Big Sky a lot. Somebody left me a comment once on how they do choose the winner, I shall have to find it.
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