The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time

I. The Cover Of The Book
The cover of the book shows a dead (Wellington) dog laying in his back, killed with a garden fork. You see stars so that means it happens during the night. The story says that Christopher is the writer of the book (although he isn’t), that’s why the dog is red coloured. Because he liked the dog and he likes red so he associates the dog with red.

II. The Title Of The Book
The title of the book regards that if the dog wasn’t killed, Christopher probably wouldn’t have found his mother. It also points to the fact that the dog had been found during the night.

III. Biography of the author
Mark Haddon was born in 1962 in Northampton. In the eighties he worked in a school with people who have mental disabilities but the term autism didn’t exist yet. Later on he discovered that he was working with people who have autism, and a few years later, in 2003 he decided to write a book about it. This book is also his first book ever written. Later on, he also wrote “A spot of bother”. This book is about cancer. Publicized in 2006.

IV. Summary
The book is about a boy called Christopher bone. He lives with his father because his mother died a few years ago. Christopher is fifteen years old and has the Asperger syndrome. The book starts when he finds a dead dog, called wellington, in the garden of Mrs. Shears, His neighbour.
The dog was killed with a garden fork. He took the dog in his lap. On a certain moment, Mss Shears shows up in the garden. She calls the police because she thinks Christopher killed her dog. The police arrive and Christopher was lying on the ground. One of the policemen tried to help him up but Christopher doesn’t like to be touched. Certainly not by a stranger and he hit the policemen. After that, they arrested him for assaulting an officer. When his father went to the police station to pick Christopher up, father told him, while driving home, Christopher could not do detective work to find out who killed wellington. But Christopher didn’t listen. He got a book from his mental coach, it was an empty book. Christopher wanted to write a murder mystery novel. So he did. He wrote everything he did and thought down in that book. Christopher talked to Mrs Alexander who told him, Christopher’s mother and Mr. Shears had an affair. He writes that in his book but he forgets it on the kitchen table. When his father comes home, he finds that book and he gets upset. He decides to take the book from Christopher. But Christopher wants to keep his book. A few days later he decides to go and search his book in his father’s room. He finds the book in an old shoebox and in that box he also finds some letters who were addressed to him. He took one letter and hid it in his room to read it afterwards. The letter was claimed by someone who claimed to be his mother, but that was impossible because his mother died two years ago from a heart disease. It was posted in London and as far as he knew, she never lived in London. In that letter she writes that she works in a steel factory. But she always worked in a garage. After reading more letters in his father’s room, he felt confused. He thought his mother died from a heart attack, but now she seems to be alive. He had peed in his pants and he had to vomit. He felt wet and dirty. After a while, his father came upstairs and saw Christopher with the letters. Father said he was sorry and he said he would never lie anymore to Christopher. As example he said he killed wellington, Mrs. Shear’s dog, and after that, he put Christopher in bath. When Christopher laid in his bed, he felt scared. He was afraid that father would kill him too. He didn’t trust father anymore. That night he hid in the garden. And in the morning he waited until his father left home. He decides to go and live with his mother in London. He took his father’s credit card, which he knew the code of, some food for him and his pet rat and his rat Toby. He asked an old lady where the station was, but that was hard because he normally doesn’t talk to strangers. When he arrived in the station, he sat there on a bank for two hours. When he looks up, there is a policeman in front of him. The officer helps him to use his pin card and to buy a ticket. A few minutes later, he gets on the train to London.
The officer knew Christopher was missing and he tried to bring him back to his father. But the train already left the station so he had to wait for the next stop. When Christopher goes to the toilet on the train, he sees a few shelves with cases on them and he hides in there. When the train stops, the officer can’t find him and gets off the train. Christopher stayed in these shelves until the train arrived in London. In London the station was very noisy and Christopher sat on a bank for five hours with his eyed closed. He wasn’t sleeping but he was very confused from the noise and all the publicity boards and that say random things. After five hours he discovers Toby is gone. He searches Toby and almost gets killed by a metro because he tried to take Toby from the rails but that was a few seconds before a metro arrived. Toby bit him but Christopher didn’t let him go. When Christopher arrives at his mother’s home. He rings at the door but nobody answers the door. He waits and when she arrives she is very happy to see him again and he could stay as long as he wants. But after living in London for a while they go back to Swindon to talk with his father. His father apologizes and to show he regrets, he gives Christopher a dog called sandy. This will gain trust from Christopher. But the author doesn’t tell if that works.

V. Main characters
Christopher John Francis Boone
He is the main character. He is fifteen years old and has the Asperger syndrome. The Asperger syndrome is autism but for intelligent people. He is very good at mathematics and he knows all prime numbers from the heart up to 7507, he also knows all countries and their capital. He loves playing He tells the story in first person and he tells in the end of the story that he is the writer of the book. He lives with his father

Father:
Christopher’s father is a plumber, he loves Christopher very much. He doesn’t want Christopher to know that his mother is still alive. He Killed the dog because his neighbor who ho was in love with, cared more about the dog than about him. He killed the dog because of jealousy. He lives in Swindon.

Mother
I don’t know very much about Mother The only thing I know is that she works in a steel factory, she lives in London

VI. My favorite part.
My favorite part is definitely the part from the minute he finds the letters. That part is sad and exiting at the same time.

VII. My opinion about the book.
I liked the book very much. For some reasons I recognize things from Christopher’s personality in me. This is because I have the Asperger syndrome myself. It is a very interesting book because it shows the difficulties for parents and for children who are in touch with people who have autism in any kind.