House Rules: the powerful must-read story of a mother's unthinkable choice by the number one bestselling author of A Spark of Light

Product Information

And off goes my mother, champion of the confused, doyenne of the dense. Saving the world one letter at a time. I wonder what all those devoted readers would think if they knew that the real Auntie Em had one son who was practically a sociopath and another one who was socially impractical. Eighteen-year-old Jacob Hunt lives with his mother Emma and his younger brother, Theo. Jacob has Asperger's syndrome, then considered a form of high-functioning autism. Jacob lives by a highly structured schedule and feels comfortable when all of his daily activities are pre-planned. Jacob thrives when he is able to engage in structured, focused activities, and he particularly enjoys things that are incredibly intellectual and academic. Emma is able to ensure that Jacob's anxiety and outbursts are infrequent by creating her and Theo's schedules around Jacob's needs. However, this often displeases Theo.

JP: What a great question! I think Jacob’s would be, clearly, anything written by Dr. Henry Lee. Oliver would love Presumed Innocent by Turow – it’s probably why he decided to go to law school. Theo would read Vonnegut. He wouldn’t understand Vonnegut, but he’d think it’s the kind of thing a rebel would read. Rich – I think he’s a closet softy, the kind of guy who’s got a dog-eared copy of The Sun Also Rises in his nightstand. And dare I hope that Emma reads Jodi Picoult novels? So when Jacob suspected his brother was the murderer, he did as much as his Aspergers would allow to create a bluff crime scene to draw the police's attention away for Theo, albeit unknowingly to himself. And finally, Number 6: Recognize that there’s a way to be cautious, without being radical. I personally would never endorse NOT vaccinating your children; I vaccinated all three of mine. But it is always better to be informed than to be uninformed; and you can alter your child’s vaccine schedule in a way that makes sure he’ll be protected – and that he won’t put any other kids at risk.

Number 2: Delay shots that aren’t for immediate disease threats. Hepatitis B and polio aren’t threats to babies in the US unless the parent is an intravenous drug user, but they’re given to infants so that kids don’t wind up missing the protection when they’re older.

That’s what I do this afternoon, after my brother decides to cast me as the perp in his fake crime scene. I’ll be honest with you – it wasn’t the fact that he took my sneakers without asking or even that he stole hair out of my brush (which is, frankly, Silence-of-the-Lambs creepy). It was that when I saw Jacob in the kitchen with his corn-syrup blood and his fake head injury and all the evidence pointing to me, for a half a second, I thought: I wish. I stifle a smile. Jacob’s literal reading of the world can be, depending on the circumstances, either very funny or very frustrating. In the rear view mirror, I see him press his thumb against the car window. “It’s too cold for fingerprints,” I said off-handedly – a fact he’s taught me. As for the critique of her portrayal of Asperger's - I totally agree with Sarah. I am a psychologist who specializes in this area of mental difficulties, so you would think it would annoy me that it is not completely precise. However, when reading fiction, I appreciate it as fiction and don't expect it to be more than that. Every good author researcher's their main topics, etc. but you can't expect perfection when you are reading a work of fiction.Wait,” I say, vaguely remembering the boy from that robbery. Right now, I’m laying odds that this guy’s the perp, and I don’t want him to bolt.