Joan Kindig, Ph.D. (Children's Literature)
Growing up with an autistic younger brother is not easy and it seems far harder when the pre-teen years hit. Catherine feels as though David’s needs far overshadow her own in the family but the embarrassment his behavior causes her is the worst of it. Nevertheless, Catherine understands what David’s world is like and when she snaps at him, she is beset by guilt. It is this sensitivity that allows her to befriend a boy her age with severe communication problems who is wheelchair-bound. Gaining a stronger sense of herself and demanding what she needs as a member of the family allows her to move beyond embarrassment into acceptance. This is a story that depicts the impact of a needy child on an entire family very realistically. One of the treats in this book is that David echoes words rather than generating his own and he frequently speaks in lines he remembers from Arnold Lobel’s Frog & Toad. 2006, Scholastic, $15.99. Ages 9 to 12.

CCBC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices, 2007)
Catherine is hopeful when she sees the moving van in the driveway next door: the woman moving in has a twelve-year-old daughter, a potential new friend if Catherine can keep David from interfering. Her younger brother is autistic, and despite the many rules Catherine has developed to help David regulate his behavior, she’s often embarrassed by his actions. Catherine’s tentative relationship with her new neighbor Kristi is complicated further when she develops an unexpected friendship with Jason, a regular client at the clinic David visits for occupational therapy. Fourteen-year-old Jason travels in a wheelchair, and talks by pointing to word cards in his communication book. After a rocky start, the two become closer as Catherine creates new word cards for Jason’s book. Moving his repertoire beyond the stock words and phrases provided by his therapist, Catherine enables him to show some attitude and give voice to his adolescent sarcasm. Catherine likes Jason, but now she’s worried about what Kristi will think of him as well as David. Preferring to keep Jason a secret from Kristi, Catherine ends up falling short in the eyes of both her new friends when it comes to trust and honesty. As Catherine struggles to find her way into these new relationships, her feelings for her brother float realistically between frustration, embarrassment, love, protectiveness, and everyday sibling ups-and-downs. Her carefully constructed rules for David are really about her own need to feel in control, and to understand and live with a brother who is often misunderstood or teased by others. The parent of an autistic child, Cynthia Lord writes with familiarity and empathy for Catherine and her family. CCBC Category: Fiction for Children. 2006, Scholastic Press, 200 pages, $15.99. Ages 11-14.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2006 (Vol. 74, No. 5))
When 12-year-old Catherine is embarrassed by her autistic younger brother's behavior, her mother reassures her that "real friends understand." But Catherine is not convinced, and she is desperate to make a friend of the new girl next door. She doesn't like it when others laugh at David or ignore him; she writes down the rules so he will know what to do. Catherine is also uncomfortable about her growing friendship with 14-year-old Jason, a paraplegic. Jason uses a book of word cards to communicate, and Catherine enjoys making him new cards with more expressive words. Still, when he suggests that they go to a community-center dance, she refuses at first. Only when Jason sees through her excuse does she realize that her embarrassment is for herself. Catherine is an appealing and believable character, acutely self-conscious and torn between her love for her brother and her resentment of his special needs. Middle-grade readers will recognize her longing for acceptance and be intrigued by this exploration of dealing with differences. 2006, Scholastic, 208p, $15.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 9 to 12. © 2006 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Robin Henry (Library Media Connection, October 2006)
Catherine's younger brother, David, is autistic. She wants so badly for him to be "normal" that she makes up rules for him. While Catherine is struggling with her feelings about David, she meets Jason, a wheelchair-bound young man who communicates by pointing at word cards in a notebook. Catherine loves to draw and notices that Jason needs a larger and more colorful vocabulary. She makes him some new words, and their friendship begins. Catherine eventually comes to terms with her feelings of shame about David and about being seen with Jason after a confrontation with Jason at his birthday party. The first-person narrative is very engaging, and readers will identify with Catherine's struggles and cheer for her at the end. This is a great book to help students gain some understanding about autism, while also providing a good read. The author is the mother of an autistic child. Recommended. 2006, Scholastic, Inc, 208pp., $15.99 hc. Ages 9 to 12.

Deborah Stevenson, Associate Editor (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, May 2006 (Vol. 59, No. 9))
Catherine loves her little brother, David, who’s autistic, but his presence and his burden on the family can become exhausting. She’s hoping to be friends with Kristi, the sleek new girl next door, but she’s afraid David’s weirdness will spoil the girls’ nascent relationship. She’s also falling into a friendship with a boy her age who attends occupational therapy at the same place David does; Jason lacks the motor control to walk or to speak intelligibly, so he communicates through a word board, and Catherine has been illustrating his word cards and adding entries. It soon becomes clear that Jason wants to be more than just “clinic friends” with Catherine, but Catherine, with her hypersensitivity to public scorn from her experiences with David, isn’t sure she can face Kristi with Jason as her date. The book deftly manages to interweave its elements without heavy-handed contrivance; it’s perfectly believable that Catherine would get familiar with other OT clients and that she’d get interested in the notion of a word board, so her relationship with Jason seems like something that would actually happen rather than a contrived opportunity for her education. Readers will sympathize with Catherine’s struggle to explain the world to David through his beloved rules and her frustration at his demanding, embarrassing behaviors and his garnering the majority of parental attention. Jason’s expressive limitations will provide considerable food for thought (and maybe even some language arts assignments), with readers considering what words they would require and what words they’d be likely to get if adults were their sole source (Catherine steps up Jason’s expressive attitude, albeit in a very G-rated way, with more rebellious and sarcastic utterances such as “Why not?” “Whatever!”, and “Yeah, right”). This is an absorbing tale about valuing people even when it’s difficult, and it may encourage readers to consider the benefits and challenges of their own families and friends. (Reviewed from galleys) Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2006, Scholastic, 208p, $15.99. Grades 5-8.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2006)
Catherine is often embarrassed by her autistic brother and develops rules to help David act appropriately. When Jason, a non-verbal, wheelchair-using boy, asks her to a dance, she invokes her own rule against dancing. Jason uses his communication book to reply "RULE. Stupid. Excuse," and Catherine must face her fear of embarrassment. The emotions in this fast-paced novel ring true. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2006, Scholastic, 200pp, 15.99. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 3: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.