My Book Report

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

The behaviours and demands of adults are mysterious and confusing to most children. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a funny, gripping and touching story that is narrated by a fifteen year old autism child. Mark Haddon, who has worked with autistic children, has created a unique narrator to tell this story. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a fictional book that allows people to understand an autistic child’s understandings and misunderstandings of how the world works.
Christopher Boone, the narrator and the main character of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time, is a fifteen year old autistic child that has been attending special school for most of his life, lives with his father and is a wiz at mathematics. Christopher calms himself when he gets nervous or scared by doing math problems in his head or by counting prime numbers. At the beginning of the book, Christopher is extremely scared of strangers and doesn’t like taking risks. Near the end of the book, Christopher escapes from his comfort zone to reveal the mystery of who killed Wellington. Christopher does the right thing when he decides to do detective work to discover who murdered his neighbour’s dog because he not only finds out who the murderer is, he also finds out a family secret that will change his life. I can identify myself with the character because I like taking risks to find out more information on things, like Christopher does in this novel. Siobhan, Christopher’s counsellor, encourages him through out the book and helps him through all of his problems. She teaches him about life and helps Christopher feel better when he’s down. She explains to him different types of behaviours that adults have and how to recognize people’s emotions by just looking at them. Christopher’s father is a heating engineer and during the beginning of the story, he has been living with Christopher as a single parent. He is usually very patient and understanding with Christopher, but he gradually becomes uncomfortable with his son’s investigation. Christopher becomes extremely scared of his father when he discovers that he killed Wellington and that he lied about his mother’s death.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is set in Swindon (United Kingdom) where he lives with his father, Ed Boone. The story takes place at Christopher’s house where he finds his neighbour’s dead dog in the middle of the lawn with a garden fork impaled in him. The setting makes the story exciting because right from the beginning, there is action that happens. The setting of the book is modern and helps easily put the reader in to the narrator’s shoes. It is harder to create a vision in the reader’s head when the story is older unless it has lots of description.
In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the author is trying to say that the more you take risks and discover new things, the more you will discover things that you weren’t expecting and that are important. The theme of this story is determination. Christopher does not stop searching and playing the role of a detective until he discovers the mystery. Even when his father tells him to mind his own business, Christopher doesn’t stop. What I learned from this story is to follow your dreams and to not let anyone tell you not to do something you want to do. You will reach your goals and discover new things if you follow your heart and never let go. An example of a problem in the book was when Christopher accidentally hit the police officer. This problem was solved when he told the police officer that he didn’t mean to hit him and that he was sorry. The police officer gave him a caution.
Threw out the story, Christopher had to by pass several obstacles to discover the mystery of who killed Wellington. The first event that happened in the story was when Christopher found the dead dog, picked it up in his arms and got accused for its death. When the police arrived, they grabbed Christopher’s arm and, without thinking, he hits the police officer and has to go to the police station until his father bails him out. The second obstacle in the story would have to be when his dad tells him to mind his own business when Christopher try’s to discover who killed the dog. He went to several peoples houses and took risks to find out more information on the suspect and one of the neighbours threatened that they were going to call the police on him. The third event in the novel is when his dad takes the book that Christopher wrote. Christopher not only finds where the book is hidden but he discovers that his mother is not really dead ( his dad told him that she died of a heart attack but his mother actually cheated on him and he didn’t want her in his or his son’s life anymore). The fourth event is when his father feels bad that he lied to him and to regain his trust, he tells Christopher that he’s the one that killed Wellington. Christopher gets scared and wants to go find his mother in England by taking the train. The fifth event happens when he gets on the train and a police officer finds him and Christopher hides in a small luggage compartment and is able to escape in England without anyone seeing him. The sixth and last event of the story takes place when he arrives to his mother’s house. His mother tells him that he can stay for as long as he wants but his Mr. Shears (his mothers boyfriend) wants him to go back home with his father. Mr. Shears and his mother get in to a big argument and him and his mother take Mr. Shears’ car and drive back to his father’s house. At the end of the novel, Christopher’s father buys Christopher a new puppy so that he can regain his trust once again.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was a delightful story and it is very different from most novels. It has a different perspective and it allows people to understand the point of view of an autistic child. I couldn’t stop reading the book because it was highly addicting. It was very funny because they had little pictures from time to time to show what Christopher was thinking through out the story. I like the way Mark Haddon wrote his story and put himself in the shoes of an autistic child. The overall story was good but it could have been better. Haddon should have put more events to make the story more suspenseful and exciting. He didn’t describe a lot of things in depth; therefore it was hard to put an image in my head. The story was extremely clear and easy to read. It was easy to believe and it was very realistic. It makes me have more pity for people that have disabilities, such as autism. The story was not very predictable because I wasn’t expecting him to discover an extremely important family secret. This added a very good twist to the novel and I was extremely intriguing. This story was not only fictional, but it’s also based on a reality. The ending could have been better but overall it was a happy ending. Mark Haddon could have put a more interesting event instead that made it exciting to keep reading. I definitely recommended this book because it’s highly addictive and different from any other book.