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Curious incident of the dog in the night-time, The; anovelMark HaddonAuthor: Haddon, MarkDespite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, amathematically-gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate themurder of a neighbor's dog and uncovers secret information about his mother.

New York: Doubleday, 2003,256 p.

Popularity: **''R'Level: Adult

Subject Headings:Fifteen-year-old boysHolmes, Sherlock -- InfluenceAutismSavant syndromeDogs -- DeathNeighborsMystery stories, EnglishPsychological fictionEngland

Lexile:1 180

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: The hero of Haddon's debut novel is 1S-year-old Christopher Boone, an autistic mathgenius who has just discovered the dead body of his neighbor's poodle, Wellington. Wellington was killedwith a garden fork, and Christopher decides that, like his idol Sherlock Holmes, he's going to find the killer.Wellington's owner, Mrs. Shears, refuses to speak to Christopher about the matter, and his father tells himto stop investigating. But there is another mystery involving Christopher's mother, who died two years ago.So why does Siobhan, Christopher's social worker, react with surprise when Christopher mentions herdeath? And why does Christopher's father hate Mrs. Shears'estranged husband? The mystery ofWellington's death begins to unveil the answers to questions in his own life, and Christopher, who is unableto grasp even the most basic emotions, struggles with the reality of a startling deception. Narrated by theunusual and endearing Christopher, who alternates between analyzing mathematical equations andastronomy and contemplating the deaths of Wellington and his mother, the novel is both fresh andinventive.(Reviewed April 1, 2003) -- Kristine Huntley

Schoof Library Journal Review: Adult/High School-When a teen discovers his neighbor's dog savagelystabbed to death, he decides to use the deductive reasoning of his favorite detective to solve the crime.Employing Holmesian logic is not an easy task for even the cleverest amateur sleuth and, in Christopher'scase, it is particularly daunting. He suffers from a disability that causes, among other things, compulsivebehavior; the inability to read others' emotions; and intolerance for noise, human touch, and unexpectedevents. He has learned to cope amazingly well with the help of a brilliant teacher who encourages him towrite a book. This is his book-a murder mystery that is so much more. Christopher's voice is clear andlogical, his descriptions spare and to the point. Not a word is wasted by this young sleuth who considers

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metaphors to be lies and does math problems for relaxation. What emerges is not only the solution to themystery, but also insight into his world. Unable to feel emotions himself, his story evokes emotions inreaders-heartache and frustration for his well-meaning but clueless parents and deep empathy for thewonderfully honest, funny, and lovable protagonist. Readers will never view the behavior of an autisticperson again without more compassion and understanding. The appendix of math problems will intriguemath lovers, and even those who don't like the subject wiil be infected by Christopher's enthusiasm forprime numbers and his logical, mathematical method of decision making.-Jackie Gropman, Chantilly'Regionat Library, VA (Reviewed October 1, 2003) (School Library Journal, vol49, issue 10, p2O7)

publishers Weekly Review: /* Starred Review x/ Christopher Boone, the autistic 1S-year-old narratorof this revelatory novel, relaxes by groaning and doing math problems in his head, eats red-but not yellowor brown-foods and screams when he is touched. Strange as he may seem, other people are far more of aconundrum to him, for he lacks the intuitive "theory of mind" by which most of us sense what's going on inother people,s heads. When his neighbor's poodle is killed and Christopher is falsely accused of the crime,he decides that he will take a page from Sherlock Holmes (one of his favorite characters) and track downthe killer. As the mystery leads him to the secrets of his parents' broken marriage and then into an odysseyto find his place in the world, he must fall back on deductive logic to navigate the emotional complexities ofa social world that remains a closed bookto him. In the hands of first-time novelist Haddon, Christopher isa fascinating case study and, above all, a sympathetic boy: not closed off, as the stereotype would have it,but too open-overwhelmed by sensations, bereft of the filters through which normal people screen theirsurroundings. Christopher can only make sense of the chaos of stimuli by imposing arbitrary patterns ("4yellow cars in a row made it a Black Day, which is a day when I don't speak to anyone and sit on my ownreading books and don't eat my lunch and Take No Risks"). His literal-minded observations make for a kindof poefic sensibility and a poignant evocation of character. Though Christopher insists, "This will not be afunny book. I cannot tell jokes because I do not understand them," the novel brims with touching, ironichumor. The result is an eye-opening work in a unique and compelling literary voice. (June 17)-

Staff (Reviewed April7, 2OO3) (Publishers Weekly, vol 250, issue 14, p42)

Library Journal Review: Sometimes profound characters come in unassuming packages. In this instance,it is christopher Boone, a 1S-year-old autistic savant with a passion for primary numbers and a paralyzingfear of anyttring that happens outside of his daily routine. When a neighbor's dog is mysteriously killed,Christopher deiides to solve the crime in the calculating spirit of his hero, Sherlock Holmes. Little does heknow the real mysteries he is about to uncover. The author does a revelatory job of infusing Christopherwith a legitimate and singularly human voice. Christopher lives in a world that is devoid of the emotionalr"sponr"! most of us expect, but that does not mean he lacks feelings or insights. Rather than being just aviciim, he is allowed to become a complex character who is not always likable and sometimes demonstratesmenacing qualities that give this well-trod narrative path much-needed freshness. The novel is beingmarketed to a YA audience, but strong language and adult situations make this a good title forsophisticated readers of all ages. Highly recommended for all fiction collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert,U 2/L/O3.1-David Hellman, San Francisco State lJniv. Lib. (Reviewed May 1, 2003) (Library Journal, vol128, issue 8, p155)

Kirkus Reviews /x Starred Review x/ Britisher Haddon debuts in the adult novel with the bittersweet taleof a 1S-year-old autistic who's also a math genius'

Christopher Boone has had some bad knocks: his mother has died (well, she went to the hospital and nevercame back), and soon after he found a neighbor's dog on the front lawn, slain by a garden fork stuckthrough it. A teacher said that he should write something that he "would like to read himself"-and so heembaiks on this book, a murder mystery that will reveal who killed Mrs. Shears's dog. First off, though, is anight in jail for hitting the policeman who questions him about the dog (the cop made the mistake ofgrlUUing the boy Oy ine arm when he can't stand to be touched-any more than he can stand the colorsyellow or brown, or not knowing what's going to happen next). Christopher's father bails him out butiorbids his doing any more "detecting" about the dog-murder. when Christopher disobeys (and writes aboutit in his book), i fight ensues and his father confiscates the book. In time, detective-Christopher finds it,along with certain other clues that reveal a very great deal indeed about his mother's "death," his father'sown part in it-and the murder of the dog. Calming himself by doing roots, cubes, prime numbers, andmath problems in his head, Christopher runs away, braves a train-ride to London, and finds-his mother.How can this be? Read and see. Neither parent, if truth be told, is the least bit prepossessing or more thana cutout. Christopher, though, with pet rat Toby in his pocket and advanced "maths" in his head, is anothermatter indeed, and readerJwill cheer when, way precociously, he takes his A-level maths and does

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Author Profi le - www.contem porarywriters.com

Mark HaddonBiographyMark Haddon was born in Northampton in 1962.He graduated from Oxford University in 1981 ,returning later to study for an M.Sc. in EnglishLiterature at Edinburgh University. He thenundertook a variety of jobs, including work withchildren and adults with mental and physicaldisabilities. He also worked as an illustrator formagazines and a cartoonist for New Statesman,The Spectator, Private Eye,lhe Sunday Telegraphand The Guardian (for which he co-wrote acartoon strip).

His first book for children, Gilbert'sGobstopper, appeared in 1987 and was followedby many other books and picture books forchildren, many of which he also illustrated. Theseinclude the 'Agent Z' series and the 'Baby Dinosaurs' series. From 1996 he alsoworked on television projects, and created and wrote several episodes for Microsoap,winning two BAFTAS and a Royal Television Society Award for this work.

ln 2003 his novel, The Curious lncident of the Dog in the Night-Time, was publishedand has been hugely successful. lt is the first book to have been publishedsimultaneously in two imprints - one for children and one for adults. lt has won a stringof prestigious awards, including the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year. His secondnovel, A Spot of Bother, was published in 2006 and shortlisted for the 2006 CostaNovel Award.

His first book of poetry, Ihe Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under theSea, was published in 2005.

Mark Haddon teaches creative writing for the Arvon Foundation and OxfordUniversity.

Genres (in alphabetical order)Children, Fiction, lllustration, Radio drama, Screenplay

BibliographyGilbert's Gobstopper Hamish Hamilton, 1987Toni and the Tomato Soup Hamish Hamilton Children's, 1988A Narrow Escape for Princess Sharon Hamish Hamilton Children's, 1989Agent Z Meets the Masked Crusader Bodley Head, 1 993Titch Johnson, Almost World Ghampion (illustrated by Martin Brown) Walker,

#

Photo: @ Claire McNamee

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1993Agent Z Goes Wild Red Fox, 1994At Home (Baby Dinosaurs series) Doubleday, 1994At Playgroup (Baby Dinosaurs series) Doubleday, 1994In the Garden (Baby Dinosaurs series) Doubleday, 1994On Holiday (Baby Dinosaurs series) Doubleday, 1994The Real Porky Phillips A & C Black, 1994Agent Z and the Penguin from Mars Red Fox, 1995The Sea of Tranquility (illustrated by Christian Birmingham) Collins Children's,1996Secret Agent Handbook (illustrated by Sue Heap) Walker, 1999Agent Z and the Killer Bananas Red Fox, 2001Ocean Star Express (illustrated by Peter Sutton) Collins, 2001The lce Bear's Cave Collins, 2002The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (edition for children) DavidFickling, 2003The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (edition for adults) Cape,2003The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea Picador, 2005A Spot of Bother Doubleday, 2006

Prizes and awards1998 Royal Television Society Award (Best Children's Drama) Microsoap1999 BAFTA (best drama) Miqosoap1999 BAFTA Microsoap and The Wild House2003 Booktrust Teenage Prize The Curious lncident of the Dog in the Night-Time2003 British Book Awards Author of the Year (shortlist) The Curious lncident ofthe Dog in the Night-Time2003 British Book Awards Book of the Year (shortlist) The Curious lncident ofthe Dog in the Night-Time2003 British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year The Curious lncident ofthe Dog in the Night-Time2003 British Book Awards Literary Fiction Award lhe Curious lncident of theDog in the Night-Time2003 Carnegie Medal (shortlist) The Curious lncident of the Dog in the Night'Time2003 Guardian Ghildren's Fiction Prize The Curious Incident of the Dog in theNight-Time2003 Whitbread Book of the Year The Curious lncident of the Dog in the Night-Time2003 Whitbread Novel Award lhe Curious lncident of the Dog in the Night-Time2004 South Bank Show Annual Award for Literature The Curious lncident of theDog in the Night-Time2004 WH Smith Award for Fiction (shortlist) The Curious lncident of the Dog inthe Night-Time2005 British Book Awards Book of the Year (shortlisl) The Curious lncident ofthe Dog in the Night-Time2006 Costa Novel Award (shortlist) A Spot of Bother

Critical PerspectiveAuthor of several children's books and an accomplished abstract painter, MarkHaddon has also worked as an illustrator and cartoonist. His poetry has been short-listed for the Arvon Foundation International Poetry Competition, he has written playsfor Radio Four and has adapted Fungus the Bogeyman for television. He has also

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won two BAFTAS for Microsoap, a children's TV drama. As the Guardran iournalistKate Kellaway puts it, 'the man is preposterously versatile.'

Long before Haddon achieved bestseller status, he wrote the Agent z series of books.Aimed at young teens, the stories are fresh and pacy and full olthe joys ofdaydreaming. Ben, the narrator, allows his hallucinogenic imagination to transport himfar beyond the confines of cane Grove, the dull suburban street where he lives. withhis friends Barney and Jenks he forms The crane Grove Gang, which is dedicated toterrorising people through carefully planned practical jokes. Agent Z is the identitythey adopt, leaving stickers at the scene of thelr crimes, as a mark of their triumpns.The books are hugely enjoyable, and play on the inherent need to escape thehumdrum banality of daily life.

Haddon has also written several picture books, the most beautiful of them being rheS_ea of Tranquility (1996). With soft-hued illustrations by Christian Birmingham, Ihesea of rranquility is a tender, impressionistic piece of work. A man lookJback at hischildhood obsession with space, recalling the sense of wonder and awe he felt at themoon landing, as he watched Aldrin and Armstrong 'bouncing slowly through thedust.' lt ends with the adult musing upon how he can still lose himself to views of themoon and thoughts of how'nothing ever moves year after year.'

19ry9y"r, his breathtaking novel, The Curious lncident of the Dog in the Night_time(2003), has completely overshadowed anything Haddon did before. Narrated by a 15-year-old boy who possesses what lan McEwan describes as an ,emotionallydissociated mind,' the novel won widespread critical acclaim, was longlisted' for the2003 Man Booker Prize and won the 2004 whitbread Book of the year Award. Muchwas made of the 'crossover' appeal of the novel, something that Haddon himselfdismissed as being nothing more than a marketing and media construct. ,youngpeople have always read books that were aimed at adults and vice versa., lnresponse to those who believed that it was primarily a children's book Haddon said,'like most writers, I wrote for myself and as a 41-year-old I saw it as an adult book.'However, his publishers, seeing the novel's commercial possibilities, rode theRowling/Pullmann wave and released the book with two covers, one aimed atteenagers and one at adults.

on the cover of the novel we are told that christopher Boone, the narrator, who liveswith his father in swindon, has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of Autism. However, nospecific disability is ever mentioned in the book. christopher tells us all we need toknow about his condition without actually giving it a label. He doesn't like the coroursyellow and brown. lf he sees four consecutive yellow cars it makes a 'Black Day.' Fivered cars however and it is a 'Super Good Day.' Christopher cannot bear physicalcontact and there are times when he feels so overloaded by verbal and visual stimuli(he has a photographic memory yet no means by which to filter the information nereceives) that he puts his hands over his ears or eyes, retreats to a corner and startsto groan or scream. He is able to calculate complicated factoring problems in his headyet confuses all but the most basic of facial expressions. He has an acute grasp ofphysics yet cannot understand the motivations behind everyday human behaviour.christopher possesses an extremely logical and literal mind. Early in the novel netalks of his dislike of metaphor, suggesting that it is a form of lying; ,when I try andmake a pictureof the phrase in myhead itjustconfuses me because imaging anapple in someone's eye doesn't have anything to do with liking someone a lot and itmakes you forget what the person was talking about.' He does however understandsimiles as he sees them as more inherently truthful. christopher also professes ro notliking fiction, with the exception of murder mysteries, particularly the sherlock Holmesstories, as they present puzzles to solve, and appeal to his scientific mind.

The curious lncident of the Dog in the Night-time is christopher's own detective story,

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the one he decides to write after finding his neighbour's dog dead in the garden. Hisdetective work takes him far beyond the limits of his world

- he never usually goes

past the end of his street but his investigation takes him on a frightening journey toLondon

- and to inadvertent discoveries about secrets his family and neighbours have

long held from him. He isthevictim of falsehood and betrayal and in lightof thedisordered chaos that surrounds him, his obsession with facts and figures assumes asort of heroic quality. For Christopher is a hero. Although The Curious lncident of theDog in the Night-time may remind some of To Kll A Mockingbird or The Catcher in theRye, Haddon's achievement is to have created something entirely new. lf I amreminded of anything, it is of Peter Sellars' performance as Chance the gardener inHal Ashby's adaptation of Being lhere. Christopher shares Chance's quiet dignity, thenobility of someone unable to process the evasive shifts and contradictorymovements of human interaction in what most of us deem the'real'world.

Haddon's novel is full of paradoxes that transform it into a work of near genius.Christopher tells us that he does not understand jokes yet it is his very straightnessthat is the cause of the novel's humour. Whilst interrogating Mrs Alexander he notes,'(she) was doing what is called chatting, where people say things to each other whicharen't questions and answers and aren't connected ... I tried to do chatting by saying,"My age is fifteen years and three months and three days."' Christopher cannot tell alie and yet he confuses everything. He would seem to be a most unlikely narrator andyet he emerges as one of the most vivid of recent years. He never gives too muchinformation away, and in the simplicity of his narration each reader is invited to find ameans of interpretation and understanding.

Changed in some way by his experience, at the end of the novel Christopher hasfound a kind of order in the messy, illogical and irrationally emotional world of thesupposedly'normal' people around him. And the reader is in some way changed too.For make no mistake, this is transformative fiction of the highest order. Full of pathos,honesty and entirely of itself, Haddon's novel is at once hilariously funny,heartbreaking and absolutely without sentimentality. One emerges from it not onlywishing to re-read it almost immediately but also with one's assumptions andperceptions checked. lt is, in a wo'd, outstanding.

Garan Holcombe. 2004

Contact informationPublisher (General enquiries)Jonathan Cape LtdRandom House UK Ltd20 Vauxhall Bridge RoadLondon SW1V 2SAEnglandfsll +44 (0)20 7840 8539Fax'. +M (0)20 7932 0077http ://www. rando m house. co. u U

AgentAitken Alexander Associates Ltd.18-21 Cavaye PlaceLondon SW10 gPTEnglandTet +44 (0\20 7373 8672Fax'. +44 (0\20 7373 6002htto://www.aitkenalexander.co. uk

Monday, October 29,2007. Copyright @ Booktrust, British Council, the authors, thephotographers.

Produced by the Literature Department of the British Council in association withBooktrust.

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Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and theircapitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals buthas no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched.And he detests the color yellow

This improbable story of christopher's quest to investigate the suspiciousdeath of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual,and widely heralded novels in recent years,

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1. On pages 45-48, Christopher describes his "Behavioral Problems" and theeffect they had on his parents and their marriage. what is the effect of thedispassionate style in which he relates this information?

2' Given christopher's aversion to being touched, can he experience hisparents' love for him, or can he only understand it as a fact, because they tellhim they love him? Is there any evidence in the novel that he experiences asense of attachment to other people?

3. one of the unusual aspects of the novel is its inclusion of many maps anddiagrams. How effective are these in helping the reader see the worldthrough Christopher's eyes?

4. What challenges does The Curious Incident present to the ways weusually think and talk about characters in novels? How does it force us toreexamine our normal ideas about love and desire, which are often thedriving forces in fiction? Since Mark Haddon has chosen to make us see theworld through christopher's eyes, what does he help us discover aboutourselves?

5. Christopher likes the idea of a world with no people in it [p, 2]; hecontemplates the end of the world when the universe collapses [pp. 10-11];he dreams of being an astronaut, alone in space Ipp. 50-51], and that avirus has carried off everyone and the only people left are "special people likeme" [pp. 198-200]. What do these passages say about his relationship toother human beings? what is striking about the way he describes thesescenarios?

6. on pages 67-69, christopher goes into the garden and contemplates theimportance of description in the book he is writing. His teacher Siobhan toldhim "the idea of a book was to describe things using words so that peoplecould read them and make a picture in their own head" lp. 671. what is theeffect of reading christopher's extended description, which begins, "I decidedto do a description of the garden" and ends "Then I went inside and fedToby"? How does this passage relate to a quote christopher likes from TheHound of the Baskervilles: "The world is full of obvious things whichnobody by chance ever observes" [p. 73]?7. According to neurologist oliver sacks, Hans Asperger, the doctor whosename is associated with the kind of autism that christopher seems to have,notes that some autistic people have "a sort of intelligence scarcely touchedby tradition and culture --- unconventional, unorthodox, strangely pure andoriginal, akin to the intelligence of true creativity" [An Anthropologast onMars by Oliver Sacks, NY: Vintage Books, 1995, pp.252-531. Does thenovel's intensive look at Christopher's fascinating and often profound mentallife suggest that in certain ways, the pity that well-meaning, "normal" peoplemight feel for him is misdirected? Given his gifts, does his future lookpromising?

8. Christopher experiences the world quantitatively and logically. His teacherMr. Jeavons tells him that he likes math because it's safe. But Christopher'sexplanation of the Monty Hall problem gives the reader more insight into why

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he likes math, Does Mr. Jeavons underestimate the complexity ofchristopher's mind and his responses to intellectual stimulation? DoesSiobhan understand Christopher better than Mr, Jeavons?

9. Think about what christopher says about metaphors and lies and theirrelationship to novels lpp. u-20l.why is lying such an alien conceptto him?In his antipathy to lies, christopher decides not to write a novel, but a bookin which "everything I have written . . . is true" Ip. 20]. why do ,'normal,'human beings in the novel, like christopher's parents, find lies soindispensable? Why is the idea of truth so central to Christopher's narration?

1o. which scenes are comical in this novel, and why are they funny? Arethese same situations also sad, or exasperating?

11. christopher's conversations with siobhan, his teacher at school, arepossibly his most meaningful communications with another person. What arethese conversations like, and how do they compare with hrs conversationswith his father and his mother?

12. One of the primary disadvantages of the autistic is that they can't projector intuit what other people might be feeling or thinking --- as illustrated inthe scene where Christopher has to guess what his mother might think wouldbe in the smarties tube [pp. 115-16]. when does this deficit become mostclear in the novel? Does christopher seem to suffer from his mental andemotional isolation, or does he seem to enjoy it?13. christopher's parents, with their affairs, their arguments, and theirpassionate rages, are clearly in the grip of emotions they themselves can'tfully understand or control. How, in juxtaposition to christopher'sincomprehension of the passions that drive other people, is his familysituation particularly ironic?

14' on pages 83-84, christopher explains why he doesn't like yellow andbrown, and admits that such decisions are, in part, a way to simplify theworld and make choices easier, why does he need to make the worldsimpler? which aspects of life does he find unbearably complicated orstressful?

15. what is the effect of reading the letters christopher's mother wrote tohim? was his mother justified in leaving? Does christopher comprehend herapology and her attempt to explain herself [pp. 106-10]? Does he havestrong feelings about the loss of his mother? which of his parents is bettersuited to taking care of him?

16. christopher's father confesses to killing wellington in a moment of rageat Mrs. shears lpp. L2L-22), and swears to christopher that he won,t lie tohim ever again. christopher thinks, "I had to get out of the house. Father hadmurdered Wellington. That meant he could murder me, because I couldn'ttrust him, even though he had said 'Trust me,' because he had told a lieabout a big thing" lp. L221. why is christopher's world shattered by thisrealization? Is it likely that he will ever learn to trust his father again?

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17. How much empathy does the reader come to feel for Christopher? Howmuch understanding does he have of his own emotions? What is the effect,for instance, of the scenes in which Christopher's mother doesn't act to makesure he can take his A-levels? Do these scenes show how little his motherunderstands Christopher's deepest needs?

18. Mark Haddon has said of The Curious Incident, "It's not just a bookabout disability. Obviously, on some level it is, but on another level . . it's abook about books, about what you can do with words and what it means tocommunicate with someone in a book. Here's a character whom if you methim in real life you'd never, ever get inside his head. Yet something magicalhappens when you write a novel about him. You slip inside his head, and itseems like the most natural thing in theworld" Ihttp://www.powells.com/authors/haddon.html ]. Is a large part ofthe achievement of this novel precisely this --- that Haddon has created adoor into a kind of mind his readers would not have access to in real life?

19. Christopher's journey to London underscores the difficulties he has beingon his own, and the real disadvantages of his condition in terms of being inthe world. What is most frightening, disturbing, or moving about thisextended section of the novel [pp. 169-98]?20. In his review of The Curious Incident, Jay Mclnerney suggests that atthe novel's end "the gulf between Christopher and his parents, betweenChristopher and the rest of us, remains immense and mysterious. And thatgulf is ultimately the source of this novel's haunting impact. ChristopherBoone is an unsolved mystery" [The New York Times Book Review, 6/15/03,p. 5)1. Is this an accurate assessment? If so, why?

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C rrtrcal Frarse

"Gloriously eccentric and wonderfully intelligent."-The Boston Globe

"Moving. , . . Think of The Sound and the Fury crossed withThe Catcher in the Rye and one of Oliver Sacks's real-lifestories. "

-The New York Times

"This is an amazing novel. An amazing book."-The Dallas Morning News

"A superb achievement. He is a wise and bleakly funny writerwith rare gifts of empathy."

-Ian McEwan, author of Atonement

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