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The main character of this book is Catherine, a twelve-year old girl. Catherine has a little brother David, who has autism. David’s autism keeps him from remembering some things, and he doesn’t notice when he acts the wrong way. So Catherine writes rules for him. David goes to a therapist to help him. Catherine’s rules help him a lot. Jason is another character in the book who is a little bit older than Catherine, who can’t speak. He is not deaf; he can hear fine. Jason is also in a wheelchair. He uses a book of word cards to help him communicate with other people. Kristy is Catherine’s new neighbor. She is not the girl Catherine thought would write Morse code messages and swim in a pond, but she is really great to get to know.
Catherine is very excited to get a new neighbor, and is afraid David will ruin their friendship. Her whole family revolves around him. She’s been trying for years to teach him how to act the right way, in order to head off his embarrassing behaviors. But then she meets Jason, who is a surprising, new sort of friend, and Kristi, it’s her own behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask herself the very shocking question: What is normal?
Cynthia Lord is trying to show how some people have pretty crazy lives and don’t know how to fix them. Between the autism and the friendships forming and breaking, Catherine deals with it all. I learned from this story how hard life can get with a disability.
This book was a very good read and I enjoyed it very much, learning about the deal with friendships and hard lives and everything in between. I liked how the author told Catherine’s story from her point of view because it helps you understand how she feels.
I recommend this book to ages 9-12 because the characters are in that age group and it is a pretty easy read for that age group.