RULES

Lord, Cynthia. RULES. New York: Scholastic.2006.
ISBN: 0-439-44382-2

Summary

Catherine is a typical tween girl who just wants to be normal. Her brother, David, is autistic, and has his own special set of needs that Catherine is all too aware of. She spends much of her time helping take care of him, so that her mother can work from home,and she just wants to have a normal summer vacation and become friends with the new girl that moved in next door.


"A boy can take off his shirt to swim, but not his shorts."


Catherine has created a set of rules to help David survive in the world, some of them while on the surface seem merely functional (and funny), actually are quite deep and reveal a lot about her intelligent but hurting character.


"Sometimes people laugh when they like you But sometimes they laugh to hurt you."

While going with David to occupational therapy, she meets a teenage boy, Jason, who cannot speak, but uses a word book to communicate. She begins to make words for him, and builds a relationship with him. She finds, however, that he likes her and she might like him, and she is embarrassed. He points out to her that maybe her rules aren't to protect David in the world, but to protect her, because she is embarrassed of him.



This is a penetrating story that deals gently with what it is like to be the "normal" sibling who takes responsibility of a child with special needs. Lord uses the rules and words that Catherine creates to express the world view of a twelve-year-old longing for her world to be different. . .to be normal. Catherine's circumstances seem real, as do her reactions, and as the reader you feel as ashamed as she does, because you might be just the same as she is- embarrassed about her brother and hiding behind rules. Her family life is realistic, and her feelings of resentment, because she is neglected compared to the attention David gets seem extraordinarily appropriate. She comes to see herself in a new light as she grows through the awkwardness and pain of her own life.


"Some people think they know who you are, when really they don't"


Reviews


In the able hands of the author, mother of an autistic child, Catherine's emotions come across as entirely convincing, especially her alternating devotion to and resentment of David, and her guilt at her impatience with him. Through her artwork, the heroine gradually opens up to Jason, a wheelchair-bound peer who can communicate only by pointing to words on cards. -Powell's Books http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-9780439443821-0

"Catherine is an endearing narrator who tells her story with both humor and heartbreak. A lovely, warm read, and a great discussion starter." — School Library Journal


Enrichment Activities


Create your own set of rules for David. Look at the rules that Catherine creates, and come up with your own.

OR

Put yourself in Catherine's shoes. Re-write a chapter of Rules, but think about what you would do differently. Include the reactions that other people have because of your choices, and the impact that it has on David specifically.

The Battle of the Labyrinth

Riordan, Rick. Battle of the Labyrinth. New York: Hyperion 2008.

ISBN: 978-142310146-8

Summary

Percy Jackson is the son of the sea god Poseidon. Being a demigod is still quite new for him, but he is getting used to risking his life to save the mortal world as we know it. Riordan creates a fantastical world flawlessly weaving or perhaps entangling the realm of ancient Greek mythology with a Harry Potter-like story about an underdog boy and his demigod friends who save the world from Kronos and utter destruction nearly every holiday from school.

In The Battle of the Labyrinth, Percy finds that the titan lord Kronos is gathering strength, and preparing an invasion of the demigod safe haven, Camp Half Blood, where Percy trains each summer. Kronos takes bodily form in Luke, a friend who betrayed Percy and everyone at camp, and he is planning to lead an army of gods and monsters through the labyrinth that Daedalus built to hold the Minotaur, which has grown and spread across the entire US, and if it is navigated correctly can take you from New York to California in a matter of minutes.

Riordan’s writing causes the reader to strap on a seat belt and hold on. This fast moving fantasy world accounts for every logical (and mortal) explanation for why it couldn’t really happen, and even causes you to want to learn more about Greek mythology. The chapter titles, like “ I Battle the Cheerleading Squad,” make you interested, and the fantasy/ mystery style that is so action packed keeps you reading. Each of the books in this series has an element of a “who done i?t” and draws you in the way an episode of CSI does, so that you HAVE TO know how it ends. The characters are believable in their parts- Percy is brave but doesn’t always get what is going on, Annabeth knows the dangers that she faces and is courageous enough to make hard decisions, even if she reveals some feelings for Percy in the process, Grover is lovable, and loyal, but all of the characters are simply typical teenagers with extraordinary abilities. These are the kind of heroes people love to read about. It is the perfect mix of courageous fantasy and comedy, one great example of this is sacrificing McDonald’s food to hear from the spirits of the underworld- a slightly different take than the sheep’s blood of Odysseus’ day.

We came to a cave where stalactites hung low from the ceiling. In the center of the dirt floor was a rectangular pit, like a grave.

Grover shivered. “It smells like the Underworld in here.”

Then I saw something glinting at the edge of the pit—a foil wrapper. I shined my flashlight into the hole and saw a half-chewed cheeseburger floating in brown carbonated muck.

“Nico, I said. “He was summoning the dead again.”

Reviews

Riordan's Percy Jackson & the Olympians series has won accolades among both critics and readers for its combination of real-world places and otherworldly antics. Tongue-in-cheek narration combines with a steady stream of grotesque monsters, perilous dangers and surprising plot twists for a nearly nonstop reading adventure.

-Kidsread.com

"The Battle of the Labyrinth," the fourth in the series, is a glorious, no-holds-barred adventure with great plot twists, a melding of ancient and bionic technology and a cliffhanger ending that will have fans eagerly awaiting the fifth and final showdown between gods and monsters next year.

-LA Times

Enrichment Activities

This book would be great with a study of mythology or ancient Greece. Students could get to know one of the Greek gods of the pantheon and share information about that god or goddess.

Another activity would be to claim to be the demigod child of a god or goddess, and come up with attributes that he or she would have because of it. Perhaps create a quest that only a demigod with those skills would have, or write about what that character’s role would be in the Battle of the Labyrinth- good, bad, lost in the maze. . .

How I lLive Now

Rosoff, Meg. How I Live Now. New York: Random House, 2004.
ISBN

Summary

Rosoff’s book concerns a 15-year-old girl from New York who is shipped off to England by her father, and evil stepmother. This, however, is far from a Cinderella story. Daisy is literally starving. She is starving for attention, for life, for affection from anyone who will give it to her, so starves herself to find some semblance of control in her life. When she is picked up from the airport by her British cousin, Edmond, she notices something different about him. She notices something different about her whole new British family (four cousins and a sweet aunt) that she can’t quite put her finger on, but somehow she begins to feel loved and accepted by these people who she doesn’t even know. She lives peacefully in their house in the English countryside getting to know this family, and come to grips with her new life there. In this fictional world, World War III is about to start, and the girl who seems farthest from the action gets caught in the middle. Daisy’s Aunt has important business about the coming war to address, so leaves the kids for a time to fend for themselves, but the war breaks out and she is unable to return. The kids enjoy their time without adult supervision, and Daisy begins a sexual relationship with Edmond, but it all comes to a halt when the British Army moves in and relocates them, splitting up the family.


“ So there we are carrying on our happy little life of underage sex, child labor and espionage when someone came to visit us, which after weeks of Just Us Five kind of took us by surprise.”


Now all that Daisy and her young cousin Piper have to find a way to get back to the boys and home before everything they know is destroyed.

Rosoff has a way with words. She is blunt, descriptive, and says things the way teenagers do. The most notable aspect of her writing is her use of capitalization. Anytime the young female protagonist uses a hint of sarcasm or refers to something that she has given name to, no matter how seemingly unimportant, it is capitalized. This is how we come to know Daisy.

It was when I was thinking things like this that I sometimes noticed Edmond looking at me in his odd, listening kind of way and sometimes I looked back at him doing the same expression myself just to see what he’d say.. But mostly he just smiled and half closed his eyes and look more like Wise Dog than ever and I thought to myself If this kid turns out to be thirty-five I won’t be a bit surprised.

Reviews

Daisy's voice is flawless and engaging. Her character is spiky, self-absorbed and resentful, yet she shows vulnerability and passion. Whilst battling with anorexia, Daisy deals with loss and responsibility as she lurches from one crisis to another, showing resilience and courage in roles beyond her years. The depth of her character is vast: it's hard not to feel anything for her as she captures the reader in a snare of humour, love, pathos and turmoil.

-The Bookbag http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php/How_I_Live_Now_by_Meg_Rosoff


“A daring wise, and sensitive look at the complexities of being young in a world teetering on chaos.”

-People

Enrichment Activity

This book would be best as a companion book for independent reading after a unit on war or perhaps in literature circles where the theme might be war or pain, or being a teenager. This is an edgy book that I wouldn’t recommend for everyone, so it might be go well with a book like Speak or Thirteen Reasons Why, where real issues are dealt with in a fictional setting.