David lives by a long list of rules. They govern his behavior at home, with family, around strangers. It's mostly his sister Catherine who enforces them—her way of managing the countless bewildering moments of David's autism, moments that mortify her more often than she'd like to admit. But as the summer unfolds, Catherine discovers that rules shape her own life just as much. Two new friendships, each with someone utterly different from her, force her to question what she thought she knew about herself—and lead her toward a truer, deeper understanding of who she is.
Cynthia Lord is a mother whose own child has autism. She knows intimately the tensions between siblings, between parents and children, disabled and non-disabled alike. She writes without flinching about the mistakes parents make. And she tells this story of an unusual summer with rare grace.
The book appears in Il Battello a Vapore's "Storie di oggi" (Stories of Today) series, which collects contemporary fiction for readers nine and up—stories that grapple with difficult, urgent subjects: war, organized crime, immigration, disability. These are books meant to help children think and talk about the world as it actually is.
C.T., 2009