A book I found and ordered...

GinaMarie · 06-09-2007, 06:20 PM

My son Caleb has to read a book for his summer homework. He has a choice of 3 books. One of the books is called, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon. Here are the reviews of what it's about..

Quote:

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Mark Haddon's bitterly funny debut novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is a murder mystery of sorts--one told by an autistic version of Adrian Mole. Fifteen-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone is mathematically gifted and socially hopeless, raised in a working-class home by parents who can barely cope with their child's quirks. He takes everything that he sees (or is told) at face value, and is unable to sort out the strange behavior of his elders and peers.
Late one night, Christopher comes across his neighbor's poodle, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork. Wellington's owner finds him cradling her dead dog in his arms, and has him arrested. After spending a night in jail, Christopher resolves--against the objection of his father and neighbors--to discover just who has murdered Wellington. He is encouraged by Siobhan, a social worker at his school, to write a book about his investigations, and the result--quirkily illustrated, with each chapter given its own prime number--is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Haddon's novel is a startling performance. This is the sort of book that could turn condescending, or exploitative, or overly sentimental, or grossly tasteless very easily, but Haddon navigates those dangers with a sureness of touch that is extremely rare among first-time novelists. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is original, clever, and genuinely moving: this one is a must-read. --Jack Illingworth, Amazon.ca --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Christopher Boone, the autistic 15-year-old narrator of this revelatory novel, relaxes by groaning and doing math problems in his head, eats red-but not yellow or brown-foods and screams when he is touched. Strange as he may seem, other people are far more of a conundrum to him, for he lacks the intuitive "theory of mind" by which most of us sense what's going on in other people's heads. When his neighbor's poodle is killed and Christopher is falsely accused of the crime, he decides that he will take a page from Sherlock Holmes (one of his favorite characters) and track down the killer. As the mystery leads him to the secrets of his parents' broken marriage and then into an odyssey to find his place in the world, he must fall back on deductive logic to navigate the emotional complexities of a social world that remains a closed book to him. In the hands of first-time novelist Haddon, Christopher is a fascinating case study and, above all, a sympathetic boy: not closed off, as the stereotype would have it, but too open-overwhelmed by sensations, bereft of the filters through which normal people screen their surroundings. Christopher can only make sense of the chaos of stimuli by imposing arbitrary patterns ("4 yellow cars in a row made it a Black Day, which is a day when I don't speak to anyone and sit on my own reading books and don't eat my lunch and Take No Risks"). His literal-minded observations make for a kind of poetic sensibility and a poignant evocation of character. Though Christopher insists, "This will not be a funny book. I cannot tell jokes because I do not understand them," the novel brims with touching, ironic humor. The result is an eye-opening work in a unique and compelling literary voice.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

It got really great reviews from people who read it. You can see them on Amazon.com and look up the title. I bought it used for $1.99 plus s/h .

Have any of you read this book or heard of it?

Gina Marie

~scrabble · 06-10-2007, 01:53 PM

Hi Gina Marie,

Yes, I have read the book 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' and I found it very interesting. My daughter read it first, last year when she was 14, and she recommended it to me.

I am an Educational Assistant and I work with students with Autism and Asperger's Syndrome, among other developmental disabilities and physical disabilities. I enjoyed the descriptions in the book of what the main character was feeling and why he needed to sometimes 'shut out' the world around him. One 'image' that stood out to me was how he describes feeling overloaded by thoughts and other stimulations and he said it was like an electric bread slicer that can't keep up with the loaves of bread that need to be sliced.

I've taken courses and workshops on Autism and there is just such a wide range of abilities and behaviours on the Autism Spectrum. I enjoyed reading the book (which was not a difficult read, btw) and I felt the author had done a good job of researching what it is like to have Autism.

I recently bought another book called 'Born on a Blue Day' by Daniel Tammet, (2006) and I look forward to having the time to start reading it. This is what is written on the back of the book:

"A Memoir of Asperger's and an Extraordinary Mind"

"Daniel sees numbers as shapes, colours and textures and can perform extraordinary maths in his head. he can also learn to speak a language fluently from scratch in a week. He has Savant Syndrome, an extremely rare form of Asperger's that gives him almost unimaginable mental powers, much like the Rain Man portrayed by Dustin Hoffman. But he is virtually unique amongst people who have severe autistic disorders in being able to live a fully independent life."

"Touching and illuminating, 'Born On A Blue Day' explores what it's like to be special and in so doing gives us an insight into what makes us all human - our minds."

I think it will be an interesting read, especially since it is a non-fiction book.

Lara · 08-16-2007, 07:31 PM

I did a forum search because I *thought* I remembered reading about this book on here at one time.

I just ordered "Born on a Blue Day" myself. It's not available in the large print here anymore the bookstore told me, but is being re-released in paperback at the end of August. I'm certainly looking forward to reading that. I watched an interview with Daniel Tammet on a tv show here last week and he was so very interesting. I also look forward to reading this book.

more here from our ABC book club message board.
http://www2b.abc.net.au/tmb/Client/M...s=20&dm=1&pd=3

Lara · 08-16-2007, 07:43 PM

speaking of books...

Lizard just posted this somewhere else I noticed and I thought it would be a great one to share here as well. So, Thankyou LIZARD

Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight: What to Do If You Are Sensory Defensive in an Overstimulating World
(Paperback)
by Sharon Heller (Author)

I wasn't familiar with this one although I found some of the books by Carol Kranowitz very helpful when my son was younger. e.g. "The Out of Sync Child".

There was another one listed on the amazon website called "The Sensory-Sensitive Child: Practical Solutions for Out-of-Bounds Behavior by Karen A. Smith.

I've not read it so can't comment, but it does sound helpful. Maybe someone else has read that one and can comment at some time in the future.

Guitarmom · 09-08-2007, 11:07 AM

http://www.amazon.com/Freaks-Geeks-A...ews/1843100983

This is another great book. I purchased it for the Special needs library I set up for a church program. It is written by a 13 year old who has Aspergers. He does a good job of trying to describe what it is like from the inside.

I would read it before your child so you can explain anything that might be confusing maybe....

Ginny

Lara · 09-08-2007, 03:25 PM

Ginny, that sounds like a really good book. Thanks for posting it.

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