The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Haddon, M. (2003). The curious incident of the dog in the night-time. New York: Doubleday.

ISBN: 9781400032716 | paperback | 226p. | $12.00 USD

Cover image courtesy of goodreads.com

Annotation:  Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically-gifted, autistic, fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor's dog and uncovers secret information about his mother.

Book Talk: “My name is Christopher John Francis Boone.  I know all the countries of the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7, 057.  Eight years ago, when I first met Siobhan, she showed me this picture

and I knew that it meant ‘sad,’ which is what I felt when I found the dead dog.  Then she showed me this picture

and I knew that it meant ‘happy,’ like when I’m reading about the Apollo space missions, or when I am still awake at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. in the morning and I can walk up and down the street and pretend that I am the only person in the whole world.  Then she drew some other pictures

but I was unable to say what these meant.  I got Siobhan to draw lots of these faces and then write down next to them exactly what they meant.  I kept the piece of paper in my pocket and took it out when I didn’t understand what someone was saying.” (p. 2-3)

This is the internal world of Christopher.  He struggles to interpret emotion and feeling and can only understand things which he can explain to himself with science—physics, math, etc.  After the mysterious murder of his neighbor’s dog, Christopher finds himself compelled to investigate who is to blame.  In his pursuit, Christopher discovers his curiosity is stronger than his discomfort in dealing with the people, places, and situations that hold the key to the curious incident of the dog in the night-time. 

My favorite thing about the book:

This book makes you as the reader think about seeing the world in a different way. 

First Sentence:

“It was 7 minutes after midnight.”

Favorite character:

Christopher

Awards/Honors:

YALSA Best Books for Young Adults

2003 Whitbread Book of the Year

Booklist Editor's Choice for Young Adults

School Library Journal Adult Books for Young Adults

ALA Best Books for Young Adults

New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age

New Jersey Garden State Teen Book Award

2004 Commonwealth Writers' Prize of Europe and South Asia

Learn More:

Check out this interview with the author, Mark Haddon, where he describes writing the book and other aspects of the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Don’t miss this unique book trailer for the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

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