Cynthia Lord
Author of Rules
About the Author
Series
Works by Cynthia Lord
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- New Hampshire, USA
Brunswick, Maine, USA - Occupations
- writer
teacher
behavioral specialist
bookseller - Agent
- Tracey Adams
- Short biography
- (from Rules) Cynthia Lord is the mother of two children, one of whom has autism. She says, "I wrote Rules to explore some of my own questions about living with someone who sees the world so differently than I do, but also to show a full experience of family life with a child with autism: the happy moments, the heartbeaking ones, the ones that make me laugh."
Lord is a former teacher, behavioral specialist, and bookseller. She lives with her husband and their children in Maine. Rules is her first novel. Visit her at www.cynthialord.com.
Members
Reviews
{My Thoughts} – First off I really want to make note of how much I hope Scholastic Press will continue this series. I enjoy that it’s about a group of children that help our at an animal shelter. It shows that children no matter their age are never too young to make a difference. It helps to show that if you put your heart into something that you can be rewarded in so many different ways. There are a lot of children out there that can’t have animals where they live and this series gives them an option of an idea of how they can be around animals and make a difference in the lives of animals. Helping out at a shelter not only is rewarding for the animal but also for the pets involved. Every living creature deserves the feeling of safety and love. This series also gives step by step instructions of how to make some of the crafts they do in the book for the animals and most are fairly inexpensive and children could easily make them and donate to their local shelter with their parents help. I will be sad if this series isn’t continued as myself and my children both enjoy it. We also help out at the local animal shelter from time to time and it’s a very rewarding experience.
{Book Review} – Suzannah is the only child in the Shelter Pet Squad that doesn’t have her own real live pet at home. At school they are doing a pet day where students can bring their pet and talk about it, bring a picture of a pet or write a story of a pet they have or wish they had. Suzannah decides to do her story on a puppy named Paloma from Puerto Rico. The puppy had traveled along way to get to the shelter she helps at and needs a home. Suzannah is hoping that by talking about the puppy to her class she may be able to help the puppy find the home it so desperately needs.
It is a given that cute little animals and children mix together so nicely. Suzannah becomes attached to Paloma and wants to be able to spend as much time with her as she can. However, she understands she can’t keep her and wants to help her find her forever home. When it is her turn to talk about the puppy at pet day she and the class get a surprise. The animal coordinator at the shelter she helps at brought the puppy for the whole class to see and spend time with.
Does the puppy find a home with one of Suzannah’s classmates? How does Suzannah handle knowing she has to let go of the puppy and let it start it’s new life with it’s new owners? There’s so much going on within the pages that it’s a fairly fast paced read. If you want to know the outcome please please read the book and the other two books in the series. They are incredibly well written and well worth the learning experience that takes place between the pages.… (more)
{Book Review} – Suzannah is the only child in the Shelter Pet Squad that doesn’t have her own real live pet at home. At school they are doing a pet day where students can bring their pet and talk about it, bring a picture of a pet or write a story of a pet they have or wish they had. Suzannah decides to do her story on a puppy named Paloma from Puerto Rico. The puppy had traveled along way to get to the shelter she helps at and needs a home. Suzannah is hoping that by talking about the puppy to her class she may be able to help the puppy find the home it so desperately needs.
It is a given that cute little animals and children mix together so nicely. Suzannah becomes attached to Paloma and wants to be able to spend as much time with her as she can. However, she understands she can’t keep her and wants to help her find her forever home. When it is her turn to talk about the puppy at pet day she and the class get a surprise. The animal coordinator at the shelter she helps at brought the puppy for the whole class to see and spend time with.
Does the puppy find a home with one of Suzannah’s classmates? How does Suzannah handle knowing she has to let go of the puppy and let it start it’s new life with it’s new owners? There’s so much going on within the pages that it’s a fairly fast paced read. If you want to know the outcome please please read the book and the other two books in the series. They are incredibly well written and well worth the learning experience that takes place between the pages.… (more)
{My Thoughts} – Suzannah is back again in this new installment to the Shelter Pet Squad Series. The animal shelter that she and her group of friends volunteer at is having an adoption even at the local mall. Since she is the youngest she is told that she will need her parent there in order for her to attend. That really hurts her feelings because she likes to think of herself as an independent girl despite are age limitations.
Suzannah learned a lot about herself in this book. She learned that it’s okay to ask for help when you don’t understand something. She learned that she may not always like the outcome of situations but in most cases they turn out in the end. She also learned what it’s like to be terrified for an animal even if the animal wasn’t her own.
Merlin is a spunky ferret. If you have ever been around a ferret or owned one will understand the struggle within the pages of this book. A ferret is not a pet to be taken lightly. They require a lot of extra work, a special diet and you more or less need to ferret proof your house. There are so many things and places a ferret can get into that aren’t considered safe for them and they need to be able to roam outside of their cage safely for exercise.
Suzannah makes it her goal to help Merlin find the perfect forever home while at the adoption event. However, the one promising person she found didn’t appear ready to have another ferret. Merlin got to go back to the shelter and wait for his turn to be adopted. Does Merlin get adopted? What happens that makes Suzannah scared for him? You’ll have to read to find out.
I recommend this book for any child that loves animals, wants a pet ferret, or is interested in helping out at the local animal shelter. This series is an amazing series and it is spot on with the things that can occur at an animal shelter. I wish our local SPCA had a shelter pet squad. I would enroll my children because it would help them to learn all sorts of things. I also like that at the end of the book the crafts that are made in the book for the pets are explained so that children can make them at home for their own pets.… (more)
Suzannah learned a lot about herself in this book. She learned that it’s okay to ask for help when you don’t understand something. She learned that she may not always like the outcome of situations but in most cases they turn out in the end. She also learned what it’s like to be terrified for an animal even if the animal wasn’t her own.
Merlin is a spunky ferret. If you have ever been around a ferret or owned one will understand the struggle within the pages of this book. A ferret is not a pet to be taken lightly. They require a lot of extra work, a special diet and you more or less need to ferret proof your house. There are so many things and places a ferret can get into that aren’t considered safe for them and they need to be able to roam outside of their cage safely for exercise.
Suzannah makes it her goal to help Merlin find the perfect forever home while at the adoption event. However, the one promising person she found didn’t appear ready to have another ferret. Merlin got to go back to the shelter and wait for his turn to be adopted. Does Merlin get adopted? What happens that makes Suzannah scared for him? You’ll have to read to find out.
I recommend this book for any child that loves animals, wants a pet ferret, or is interested in helping out at the local animal shelter. This series is an amazing series and it is spot on with the things that can occur at an animal shelter. I wish our local SPCA had a shelter pet squad. I would enroll my children because it would help them to learn all sorts of things. I also like that at the end of the book the crafts that are made in the book for the pets are explained so that children can make them at home for their own pets.… (more)
{my thoughts} – Suzannah is a charming second grader that cannot have a pet of her own because she lives in an apartment. She has tons of stuffed critters that she plays with though. She pretends they do real things and they help her to deal with the not having her own pet. One day her mom mentions that she should join a group of kids doing the Shelter Pet Squad at the local animal shelter.
The purpose of the program is to allow children from second to sixth grade the opportunity to interact with and learn more about the animals at the shelter. They make toys and things for the animals to play with and at the end of the book it has instructions on how to make the things the book had mentioned. They also get to know the animals and help them find homes.
In this particular book the whole squad helps a guinea pig named Jelly Bean find a new home. They type up a letter telling about his good qualities, his cost and other important information. They also add a picture. They then print out copies of the letter and pass them out to all the teachers at each of their schools. This helps to get the word out about him and eventually a teacher does in fact adopt him for her classroom.
This is a wonderful book that can teach children so much. It is a wonderful feeling to be selfless and help animals. There is no I am not doing enough when it comes to animals. The small things matter the most. Even if you just go to the shelter and help walk some of the dogs. It can help to make their day just to be out of their cage for awhile and to play with someone new.
I am an avid volunteer for the local SPCA shelter here. I currently foster some of their dogs. My children are learning so much about animals and what they can do to help them that it’s a wonderful feeling knowing that they know they are making a difference. We have a senior foster named Manny, and three mama dogs that combined have 12 puppies. It was 13 but one puppy had found it’s forever home this past Sunday during a special adoption event the SPCA hosts at the mall on the weekend. I think the best thing you can do is offer to help, make donations or foster. Fostering for an animal can be so rewarding and so worth every second!
I think that this book is wonderfully written. It is accurate on account of how shelters work, it has beautiful illustrations and is very informative. Any child that loves pets will love this book. I only wish that our local shelter had a similar program. I’d sign my three up in a heart beat!… (more)
The purpose of the program is to allow children from second to sixth grade the opportunity to interact with and learn more about the animals at the shelter. They make toys and things for the animals to play with and at the end of the book it has instructions on how to make the things the book had mentioned. They also get to know the animals and help them find homes.
In this particular book the whole squad helps a guinea pig named Jelly Bean find a new home. They type up a letter telling about his good qualities, his cost and other important information. They also add a picture. They then print out copies of the letter and pass them out to all the teachers at each of their schools. This helps to get the word out about him and eventually a teacher does in fact adopt him for her classroom.
This is a wonderful book that can teach children so much. It is a wonderful feeling to be selfless and help animals. There is no I am not doing enough when it comes to animals. The small things matter the most. Even if you just go to the shelter and help walk some of the dogs. It can help to make their day just to be out of their cage for awhile and to play with someone new.
I am an avid volunteer for the local SPCA shelter here. I currently foster some of their dogs. My children are learning so much about animals and what they can do to help them that it’s a wonderful feeling knowing that they know they are making a difference. We have a senior foster named Manny, and three mama dogs that combined have 12 puppies. It was 13 but one puppy had found it’s forever home this past Sunday during a special adoption event the SPCA hosts at the mall on the weekend. I think the best thing you can do is offer to help, make donations or foster. Fostering for an animal can be so rewarding and so worth every second!
I think that this book is wonderfully written. It is accurate on account of how shelters work, it has beautiful illustrations and is very informative. Any child that loves pets will love this book. I only wish that our local shelter had a similar program. I’d sign my three up in a heart beat!… (more)
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 24
- Members
- 9,947
- Popularity
- #2,393
- Rating
- 4.2
- Reviews
- 650
- ISBNs
- 192
- Languages
- 3
- Favorited
- 5
Emma is a sweet girl that has been home-schooled her entire life. Now she is about to start the 5th grade and has decided that she would rather go to a real school. The night before her first day of school her dad and her rescue a trapped rabbit. The rabbit instantly bonds with her.
When Emma has her first day of school all she can do is hope that it turns out alright and then when she gets home her and her dad are suppose to take the rabbit to the local shelter. Her first day doesn’t really go as great as she would have liked, but she does try to make the best of it, since it’s a huge learning experience for her. Once she gets home she’s quickly reminded that the rabbit has to go to the shelter.
Emma and her dad go to the shelter and find out that no one is looking for the rabbit, so she ends up taking it home and keeping it. Her dad agrees she can take care of it until it’s owners are found. At this point however, she is extremely attached to the rabbit and doesn’t want to consider it not being with her. She continues going to school and continues to struggle with the social ladder.
I think this is a great book for any child that is starting their first day of school. Even if it isn’t because they had been home-schooled in the past. The first day of school can be scary and challenging and hard on any child. I remember what a couple of my first days were like and I had just as rough a time as Emma did within the pages of this book. I also was very dependent on my animals for comfort as I was growing up, I think that is normal for any child. An animal always knows exactly how you feel and exactly what you need in order to feel better when things feel really bad.
I can’t wait to read this book with my younger daughters. I also look forward to having my older three read it and seeing what they think about it. Hopefully they won’t be asking for a pet rabbit once they are through reading it!… (more)