Fiona

= The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time =

By Mark Haddon
===“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” was published in 2003 and won the Whitbread Book of the Yearin 2003 and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book in 2004. It was also a national bestseller. The setting is Swindon, England in the late 1900’s, early 21st century. In this murder mystery novel, fifteen-year-old Christopher Boone decides to find out who killed his neighbor’s dog Wellington. While he is “detecting” what happened, he makes a shocking discovery about himself and some recent family history/drama.=== ||
 * = == About the Book ==

=== The book was written by Mark Haddon, an English writer. He is currently living in England with his wife. He worked with autistic children when he was younger and he now teaches creative writing as the Arvon Foundation. Haddon was born on October 28, 1962. He writes both children’s and adult’s books. He wrote his first children’s book “Gilbert’s Gobstopper” in 1987. He also wrote “A spot of Bother” which was published in September of 2006. Some of his other works have been aired on BBC television such as “Coming Down the Mountain” and he wrote the screenplay for BBC’s version of “Fungus and the Bogeyman.” === ||
 * = ==[[image:english10honorsf11/mark_haddonn.jpg width="204" height="322" align="left"]] About the Author ==

===The main character is Christopher Boone and some other major characters are Ed and Judy Boone. In the story, Christopher is a fifteen-year-old metaly challenged boy attending a school specially for him and other kids like him. He is very smart and he knows it because he is the only person at the school taking A-level maths. One night he heard some strange noises outside so he went to see what was going on and he found his neighbor's dog dead with a pitchfork through him. He then trys to figure out who killed the neighbor’s dog, Wellington. He discovers something shocking that makes him become appalled with his father, Ed. This discovery changes his perspective of his father and he then decides that something must be done because he does not feel safe any more. So he thinks that he should go to London to live with his mother. A large section of the book is about the journey.=== ||
 * == Characters and Conflict  ==
 * = == Theme ==

Mark Haddon’s perspective in this book is that with persistence, determination, and concentration, a impossibly challenging task can be completed.
||


 * = == Style ==

Tone: In “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Haddon uses a robotic and emotionless tone to show how Christopher thinks, speaks, and acts.
==="And when I am in a new place, because I see everything, it is like when a computer is doing to many things at the same time and the central processor unit is blocked up and there isn't any space left to think about other things... And sometimes when I am in a new place and there are lots of people there it is like a computer crashing and I have to close my eyes and put my hands over my earsand groan, which is like pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL and shutting down programs and turning the computer off and rebooting so that I can remember what I am doing and where I am meant to be going." (Haddon 143-144)===

Imagery: Mark Haddon uses imagery in the book to emphasize Christopher’s thought process and attention to detail.
==="He was asking too many questions and he was asking them too quickly. They were stacking up in my head like loaves in the factory where Uncle Terry works. The factory is a bakery and he operates the slicing machines. And sometimes a slicer is not working fast enough but the bread keeps coming and there is a blockage. I sometimes think of my mind as a machine, but not always as a bread-slicing machine. It makes it easier to explain to other people what is going on inside it." (Haddon 7)=== ==="Haddon manages to bring us deep inside Christopher's mind and situates us comfortably within his limited. severely logical point of view, to the extent that we begin to question the common sense and the erratic emotionalism of the normal citizens who surround him"===

||

===“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” is murder mystery novel in the point of view of Christopher Boone, a fifteen-year-old boy who suffers from aspergers. The book begins with Christopher finding the body of Wellington, his neighbor Mrs. Shear’s dog, in his neighbor yard with a gardening fork through him. The book starts off as Christopher trying to solve who killed Wellington, but when his father steals his notebook with his detective work in it, he finds something shockingly unexpected. The book is written in a very simple tone and is easy to follow. The actions and event keep the book exciting and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an exciting tale of mystery, betrayal, and adventure.=== ||
 * == Book Review ==


 * = == Works Consulted ==

McInerney, Jay. "The Remains of the Dog." //The New York Times Book Review// 15 June 2003: 5. //Literature Resource Center//. Web. 13 Dec 2011.
||