"You never know the blessings that come from suffering."Actual rating: 3.5 Jenna Boller is a sixteen-year-old ugly duckling teenager who has a talent for selling shoes. A gifted employee at her branch of Gladstone's Shoes - a shoe company with 176 different outlets in 37 states, a company whose quality has never been compromised (but is in danger of being so), a company run by the elderly Madeline Gladstone. Jenna loves working at Gladstone's - it's an escape from her less-than-perfect life, in which she's got a drunken father. When Jenna's father returns, Jenna decides to take the trip of a lifetime and accepts an offer made by Madeline Gladstone herself - an offer to be her personal chauffeur for the summer on a cross-country journey where they'll visit plenty branches of Gladstone's and then stop in Texas for a big stockholder's meeting in a last-ditch effort to stop Madeline's slimy son, Elden, from compromising Gladstone's quality all for the sake of profit.We need more contemporary books that are like Rules of the Road. There is no romance, and Jenna isn't a beauty who doesn't know she's a beauty. She's always been plain and inferior to her younger sister, the pretty Faith, and Jenna isn't happy with her looks. On the other hand, she's not extremely insecure about them. Looks don't define Jenna, though. She's got a mind for business like Madeline Gladstone, the headstrong head of the company, and she's great at her job of being a saleswoman. She understands a lot of tough things about life based off of her experiences, and by the end of the novel, she's come out more confident, mature, and understanding. The topic of alcoholism is an integral part of the story. Bauer clearly knows the topic of alcoholism well - she writes deftly about the lies, the deceit, the guilt and the assumption of responsibility by Jenna. It's a tough topic, but Bauer handles it well. By the end of the novel, we get to see evidence of Jenna's maturing when she refuses to shoulder her father's problems. There's a surprising amount of business involved in the novel as well, and I liked the general message about quality over profit. However...Jenna, Madeline Gladstone, & Co. are all trying to stop our villain Elden Gladstone from letting Gladstone's shoes' quality dip low by selling Gladstone's to the poorer quality Shoe Warehouse and allowing the Shoe Warehouse to milk Gladstone's name (which conjures up images of kind, well-made shoes) but really sell horrible shoes and make a nice big fat profit. The problem here is Elden. He's not a character, he's a caricature of a cold-hearted businessman who just cares about money, money, money. He was too cartoonish, and some of the things he said were cringe-worthy."What matters is the bottom line. How much you make. What the company's worth. How to get the stock up. And you're kidding yourself if you think business is anything more than that!" "Not many people can tell a well-made shoe these days. Decent sells well enough." "And just in case you haven't heard, no one pushes me around." Also, despite the fact that I did like the book's overall message, sometimes it got a little preachy. The other irk I had was that Bauer tried too hard to stuff a lot of things in there. There's the business and the alcoholism, too heavy topics that Bauer should've just stuck with. But she also throws in a grandmother with Alzheimer's and death of a beloved friend. Bauer gave minimal attention to the grandmother but still put enough of her in there so that she was a part of the story but that particular plot line wasn't really given any direction and wasn't treated very well. As for the death of a loved one...I feel like Bauer tried too hard to tug on our heartstrings as we faced this epic low, only for our protagonists to rise triumphantly up again. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But we didn't know the person who died for too long and it felt a little...forced.One little teensy problem that nobody will actually have a problem with but I did because I'm weird like that: sometimes, to put emphasis on things that the characters are saying, Bauer, like other authors, italicizes things. But she italicizes entire sentences instead of words, which, for some reason, kind of irked me. You probably won't have a problem with that, I just wanted to mention it. Despite these things, Rules of the Road is a great example of good, well-written, quality young adult contemporary fiction. I thoroughly enjoyed it and reward it 3.5 stars.
When I first read the description of Rules of the Road, I thought, 'I'm probably not going to love this book, but it will be a cute read'. And that's excatly what it was and what it shoul be. Cute is the exact word I would use to describe this book. Jenna is relatable, her roadtrip with Mrs. Gladstone fun, and the ending neatly wrapped up in a not too predictable manner. I was very surprised when I saw there was a sequel to Rules of the Road because I thought it was a pretty good standalone novel. I almost gave it four stars, but I decided not to because I expect one major thing when I give a book four stars: romance. This was one of the few teen fiction books with not even a hint of romance at all. Not that I'm criticizing it for a lack of romance. It simply didn't fit into this story, and I commend Joan Bauer for being smart enough to realize that (and not making the mistake many authors do of overstuffing the plotline). Rules of the Road didn't need it. There were plenty of family issues to focus on (mainly an acoholic dad) and a quirky offbeat setting to enjoy. I'd definitely recommend for anyone just looking for a break for everything complicated. Or even if you want a different prespective in teen fiction like that of a girl working at a shoe store.
What do You think about Rules Of The Road (2005)?
The book "Rules of the Road" is a book written by Joan Bauer. It's a young adult genre, which is also the winner of the Los Angeles Times book prize. The author write books about a strong character which is one of the reasons why I loved reading the book. The book is about a girl named Jenna, she is a teen who works at a shoe store which is anything but ordinary. As she tries to balance her social,family and work life it tends to get difficult when a guest comes by making it hard for Jenna to balance those things out. She then gets a job offer by Madeline Gladstone to drive her all over the country to manage each one of her companies. There she learns the rules of the road, and life. The fact that I can make connections with her makes it easy for me to love this book, I like how she stands up for what she believes in and say what she had to say this whole time makes me remember a time when I actually did that and it was a great feeling. I would recommend this book to anyone who is dealing with any family problems and how Jenna got to deal with it.
—Vanessa Rojas
This book was required reading for a young adult literature class. My plan was to read the first chapter and then skim until the last few chapters. Somewhere along the road, this book grabbed me and I didn't skim, I read each and every word. I didn't expect this book to speak to me, I didn't expect to feel a connection with the characters, I don't have any experience with selling shoes or alcoholic people in my family. This book spoke to me on the level of acceptance, control, forgiveness. It made me realize that my perception is valid, but everyone has their own perception that informs their beliefs about me, themselves and the world at large. I did not expect to be changed after reading 201 pages in a young adult novel, but something in me is different. I took a trip along with Jenna and Mrs. Gladstone, my trip was not down the highway, but through the streets of my own heart.
—Karen
I thought that this is one of Bauer's best books yet! I love how she transforms what people consider a lowly job into something of interest. Jenna is normal, and one thing I love is that the author doesn't emphasize on what she looks like. She works at Gladstone's, a shoe store, where she is passionate about selling shoes. As the book went on I began to wish that I sold shoes too. Jenna has a sister, Faith, a witty mom, and an alcoholic dad. Her mom, Jenna, and Faith left her dad years ago, yet he comes back every now and then. He is always in worse shape than before, and Jenna is ashamed of him. Her sister Faith, still doesn't get why her dad can't stay away from alcohol, since she was too young to remember how bad her Dad was when he had something to drink. When Ms. Madeleine Gladstone offers her a job as a chauffeur to drive her to visit other Gladstone stores, Jenna decides to accept. She just wants to leave home, where her dad has decided to come back and stalk them some more. Her trip is one that changes her life, her view of Ms. Gladstone, and gives her the strength to face her father and save Gladstone stores from being sold to Ms. Gladstone's no good son, Elden.
—Divya
