My favorite genre to read is middle grade fiction. If you’ve been around a while, that’s no surprise. My favorite middle grade fiction to read is the kind that burrows in your heart and doesn’t let go—and recently I read two books that won’t leave me be.
The first is one I read aloud to my boys during their lunch time read-aloud block. Rules, by Cynthia Lord, was named a Newbery Honor book in 2007. Twelve-year-old Catherine would like nothing more than to just be normal, but the problem is that she has an autistic brother who often makes that kind of life difficult. Not only do her parents have to pay much more attention to him (thus often sacrificing time with her), but sometimes he even embarrasses her in front of her friends—or potential friends. The other problem is that she really loves him.
A new girl moves in next door, and Catherine determines to be her friend, trying hard to hide her family’s abnormalities. Of course, abnormalities aren’t easily hidden. In the meantime, Catherine becomes friends with a paraplegic at her brother’s occupational therapy office by making him drawings for his communication cards, and she’s faced with her own standards of normal and abnormal. What’s so bad about being abnormal? Which would she rather be?
Rules was a beautiful story of love and acceptance and trying to work through the differences that often separate children but really don’t at all, because we’re all the same deep down. In multiple passages, as I was reading to my boys, I found myself getting choked up. Lord did a wonderful job of communicating the struggle of being the sibling or friend of a special needs kid.
What I loved most about Rules was not only that Catherine was an exceptionally compassionate big sister and friend, but she also kept a list of rules for her brother in the back of her art journal, hence the name of the book. They were social rules that are generally natural for most people, but not for kids like her brother David, who had autism. It proved her love for him.
Here’s a quote that shows you just how much Catherine loves her brother and how conflicted she feels about his autism:
“I look down between the raft boards and imagine my always-wish, my fingers reaching through the perfect top of David’s head, finding the broken places in his brain, turning knobs or flipping switches. All his autism wiped clean.
“But saying that wish brings trouble. ‘All people have a place,’ my third-grade teacher said firmly when I drew a pretend older brother in the “My Family” picture to be put out int he hallway for open house.
“I tried to tell her it was still David—but I wanted him to be able to play with me, and since I was fixing things, I made him older so he could stick up for me. But I had to draw the picture over and visit the guidance counselor instead of going to music.”
Just My Luck, by Cammie McGovern, was another book that featured an autistic brother, although the story wasn’t specifically about the relationship between the siblings. It was more of a subplot.
In Just My Luck, fourth grader Benny Barrows is not really in a great place. He’s trying to find a new best friend, he’s not really great at bike riding, even though his autistic brother is, and he also worries that his dad’s recent accident is his fault. While he’s trying to work through all the emotions and confusion of school—the girls are acting weird this year, he says—and how to handle an autistic brother and what to do about finding a true friend, his dad winds up back in the hospital, and Benny has to decide how far he’s willing to go—for both his family and himself—to carry on.
After reading Just My Luck earlier this summer, I added it to my two older boys’ reading lists. It’s a fantastic read full of humor, truth, inspiration and the art of perseverance. My 9-year-old read it in two days, because Benny, the main character, loves doing stop motion animation, and so does my son. I think he found a kindred spirit in Benny, and I love when books can provide that for my children.
What I liked most about Just My Luck was that it was a sweet story of a family. I loved the bonds between Benny and his brothers. He was the youngest of three, and while his older brother was a bit hands-off, as most boys in high school would be, he came into the picture when it really mattered. Benny’s middle other, George, was autistic, and it was heartwarming to see Benny relate to George at both school and at home.
Both of these books were lovely reads not only for middle grade readers but also for people like me, who prefer reading kid-lit over almost anything else.
I hope you enjoyed these book recommendations. Be sure to pick up your free books from my starter library and visit my recommendation page to see some of my best book recommendations. If you have any books you recently read that you think I’d enjoy, leave them in the comments and I’ll add them to my list.
*The books mentioned above have affiliate links attached to them, which means I’ll get a small kick-back if you click on them and purchase. But I only recommend books I enjoy reading myself. Actually, I don’t even talk about books I didn’t enjoy. I’d rather forget I ever wasted time reading them.
