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

Haddon, M. (2003). //The curious incident of the dog in the night-time//. United States of America: Doubleday.
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// The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time // is a novel about Christopher, a fifteen-year-old boy with autism. Christopher is incredibly smart but has little understanding of human emotions. He thrives off of routines and predictability and struggles with everyday interactions and the messiness of life. When Christopher is falsely accused of killing his neighbor’s poodle, he decides to solve the mystery and track down the real murderer. As Christopher narrates the journey of his investigation, the reader gets a look into the way Christopher’s mind works and how living everyday life with autism can be challenging and frustrating. As Christopher investigates the real murderer, he is led down strange paths and discovers things about his family and the end of his parent’s marriage that were meant to stay hidden from him.
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// The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time // is a moving novel that not only allows the reader into the mind of someone diagnosed with autism, but also addresses some very real and common issues of the family. The narration of Christopher makes the novel unique and engaging. It is eye opening to see the world from Christopher’s perspective and as you read, you develop a better understanding of what it’s like to live life with a disability. There were a handful of things about this novel that made me question how appropriate it would be for middle school aged students. First and foremost, there was profanity used consistently throughout the novel. The profanity used was not what a typical middle school student is accustomed to hearing, but was written for a more adult audience. In addition to the profanity, there was also frequent mention of alcohol and reference to unfaithfulness in a marriage. Finally, I felt that to fully understand the novel, the reader needed to make connections that a middle school student may not be able to make. The novel could equip students to be sensitive to their peers with disabilities by giving them a better understanding of how different their minds can work. Students with separated parents or family issues could easily connect with Christopher’s character and these connections could lead to good discussion of the novel. Overall, I think //The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time// would be more appropriate for high school or university level students. At the most, I would feel comfortable with it being read by a mature group of 8th grade students who had parental permission.
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 * Language Arts
 * Have students keep a journal of their day to day life in the same way that Christopher did
 * Have students create an alternate ending to the story (change who the murderer was, change the story of Christopher’s mother, etc.)
 * Have students create their own murder mystery
 * Science
 * Have students research autism (characteristics, causes, treatment, etc.) – connect this to other disabilities, our bodies, diseases
 * Social Studies
 * Because this story took place in the UK, have students research the places Christopher mentioned throughout the story (Swindon, London, France) and then create travel brochures for these places
 * Math
 * Have students solve the quadratic equations, puzzles, and math problems that Christopher solved throughout the book
 * Have students research and find math puzzles and games that they think Christopher might enjoy and share them with the class for everyone to solve