Multicultural

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time 

by Mark Haddon

 

Bibliographic Information: Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. NY: Doubleday, 2003. Hardcover.

ISBN: 0-385-50945-6. $22.95 US. 226 pages.  

Awards/Honors: 

• Whitbread Book Award for Best Novel of the Year 
• Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for Best Book 
• Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize  

Snap’N Read:  

            Christopher John Francis Boone narrates this unconventional mystery. Christopher is an autistic 15-year-old living in a middle class English suburb. When Christopher goes for a late night walk and finds his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, murdered on the lawn, Christopher takes it upon himself to find Wellington’s murder. Along the way, Christopher unearths some very dark family secrets that take him on a frightening journey to London. In the end, he rediscovers the family he thought he had lost forever.  

     Christopher sees the world from a unique point of view. He is extremely intelligent and honest, and expects the same honesty from the rest of the world. He states on pages 19 to 20:  

A lie is when you say something happened which didn’t happen. But there is only ever one thing which happened at a particular time and a particular place. And  there are an infinite number of things which didn’t happen at that time and that place. And if I think about something which didn’t happen I start thinking about all the other things which didn’t happen… This is why I don’t like proper novels, because they are lies about things which didn’t happen and they make me feel shaky and scared. 

              However, Christopher’s worldview becomes shaken, and big lies are unearthed during his journey. Discover the secrets behind The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.  

Useful Links:  Read Mark Haddon's blog, read his bio, view his artwork, and get his contact information all on his official website. 

Find out about a London theater's stage adaptation of the novel here.