Rules was impossible for me to put down. It’s a sibling story & a friendship story. (Two of my favorite things!) Catherine makes a new friend in the waiting room at the office where her little brother David (who is autistic) goes for occupational therapy. Jason can’t talk, but Catherine steadily adds words to his vocabulary. In The Wednesday Wars, Holling Hoodhood is pretty sure that his teacher hates his guts. Especially when she decides to introduce him to Shakespeare. (Set during the Vietnam War.) And Mission Typhoon will prepare young readers for the rigors of surviving in the jungle during a typhoon. (Umm, do not make the mistake of reading this while eating. My bowl of rice coincided with the ant larva scene and … eww.)
C. J. Milbrandt 