PowerPoint By Gillian HadfieldWritten be Cynthia Lord
Catherine Loves to draw Be with friends Swim in her
favorite lake Is often annoyed
by her eight year old brother
Can’t dance, sing, or cook
Catherine’s Dad Works in the
pharmaceutical industry
Is fun, and is helpful
Has an obsession with gardening
Catherine’s Mom
Good at everything
Likes to bring clients over
Catherine’s neighbor Kristi Is loveable Caring Pretty Helpful Can be a royal
pain
Ryan - from Catherine’s school
Insensitive Very stuck up Mean Annoying But on occasion
might be nice
Jason - a friend Exceptionally Funny Up for everything Loves music Dances in his
wheelchair Always making the
grey skies blue
Catherine’s Brother David Kind Silly An eight year
old brother Very smart Has autism
David’s Condition Catherine’s little brother David, has a special brain
function called autism
Certain things types of things bother him
For instance if the cellar door is open, David would have the urge to close it
Often common-sense doesn’t reach David's mind
Catherine made some of her own rules to help David
David’s Brain
Rules for David Chew with your mouth closed Say thank you if someone gives you a present
(even if you don’t like it) If someone says “hi” you say “hi” back When you want to get out of answering
something, distract the questioner with another question
Not everything worth keeping has to be useful If the bathroom door is closed, knock (especially
if Catherine has a friend over) Sometimes people laugh at you because they like
you. Sometimes they laugh at you to hurt you. No toys in the fish tank
Setting:
Summertime, near the beach in the City
Main Events
The New Neighbor This summer Catherine’s best
friend Melissa is in California so Catherine is all alone until she returns in August again.
She is faced with the challenge of being friends with her new next door neighbor.
Catherine is concerned that David might embarrass her in front of this new friend!
The New Friend at the Clinic
Every Tuesday and Thursday David goes to the clinic
David gets help for his condition while Catherine waits in the lobby
One day, while waiting, she meets a new friend named Jason who is in a wheelchair
Jason can only talk through the cards he points to
The New Friend at the Clinic
Catharine draws him in her sketch book
Worried Catherine is making fun of Jason, Jason’s mom notices becomes upset
But, Jason isn’t bothered and becomes friends with Catharine
When Catherine saw the book of cards they were very boring and said words like “Hi” “Friend” “Bye” “How are you?” “House” “Dog” and more.
So Catherine decided to make better more colorful cards such as, “what’s up?” or “Stinks a big one.”
5:00 Every Tuesday and Thursday when David comes home
from the clinic he waits out on the porch for his dad with Catherine
Though because of David’s autism, he takes lots of things literally
The time their dad says he will be home everyday is 5:00, though David holds him accountable for doing so
However if he isn’t home exactly at that time, David will scream
On day he wasn’t home exactly at 5:00 and screamed so loud the new neighbor could hear and asked if he was alright
That embarrassed Catherine very much
First Time Over
The first time Kristi comes over to Catherine's house is a semi nightmare
Catherine is embarrassed because the bed is unmade and pencils are scattered all over the floor
Kristi Starts talking about boys (about Jason), and that makes her feel awkward
David embarrasses Catherine in front of Kristi by asking her to fix the tape recorder
The Lake Catherine invites Kristi to the lake
and Kristi finds it very wet, cold, slimy, and filled with critters
Kristi explains that there is an upcoming dance and was wondering if Catherine would like to bring Jason on a double date
But because Jason is in a wheelchair, Catherine decides she doesn’t want to
Bubble Gum A week later, Catherine returns home
When David and Catherine are just about to walk inside their house, she hears someone calling her name from behind
So she turns around and sees Kristi and Ryan
Of course David and her has to say hi
Ryan has gum and Catherine is interested in having a piece. Ryan offered some before she had a chance to ask.
David asks, but is rejected. Ryan teases David by making him run around to catch the gum
Catherine, being a big sister gave David her gum
Fast on Wheels
Once in the clinic Catherine and Jason started discussing how nice it would be to run
They come up with the idea that Catherine could race him around the building with his moms permission
Jason and Catherine race around the clinic building
People stare, but Catherine and Jason don’t care
At the end of there run, Jason said he had the time of his life
Happy Birthday Catherine is invited to Jason’s birthday
which she accepts
Catherine knows Jason loves music, so she plans on buying him a guitar
All of the music shops she is aware of are too expensive
Catherine knows of an antique shop across from the clinic which has a guitar in her price range
At the party Jason adores his new present even though he can’t play
The PartyTowards the end of Jason’s party,
he heard that there was a dance
Jason asked Catherine if she would like to go, even though she said no
Jason made the assumption it was because of his handicap
To the End
Jason and Catherine end up going to the dance
Read the book if you like to find out if Jason and Catherine are still friends or will they end up being enemy's.
Will Katherine betray Kristi? The possibilities are endless.