The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

1) SYNOPSIS
The book in written in the extremely limited 1st person perspective of a young boy in England. It is made clear from the beginning that the boy, Christopher, has some sort of learning disability, possible high functioning savant or autism. He discovers the neighbors dog has been killed and decides to investigate. Christopher is aware that he is different and takes the time to explain to his readers why he feels the way he does and to be as clear and concise as possible. He also includes diagrams, pictures, and drawings, to help the reader understand everything that is happening as he investigates the death of the neighbors dog.

2) RATIONALE
I chose this text because I feel it gives an important and unique perspective that is both uncommon and difficult to achieve successfully in literature. This novel offers a new perspective into the world of a boy who is completely different from his peers.
Students can follow a lighthearted story and at the same time learn how other people see the world differently through a disability like autism or savant.
This text would be appropriate for 10-12 grade students. I feel this would be better for an older audience because a certain level of maturity is necessary. This is important for students because I doubt many students are regularly learning about students like Christopher. This novel can help open doors for all students, and help students develop an understanding and more open mind and attitude towards people with disabilities, while still enjoying a unique and interesting novel.

3) TEACHING IDEAS
This is a text that I could see being read in and outside of class. This also opens doors for extensive class discussion on topics of students with disabilities and their treatment in and out of school. This could also open the door for student projects, maybe putting together a journal of events in Christopher's POV or another characters POV.

4) OBSTACLES
I can see some issues rising with stereotypes of people with disabilities, as well as having to control language during discussion, words like "stupid" and "retarded" I can see being an issue. Also students opening up about these issues, as in my high school we had virtually no education on anything about students with disabilities, and we were completely separated from the students in the special education program. There might be issues with some parents. Because the novel is written from the perspective of someone who is very blunt and honest, we see brief descriptions of gore in the beginning, and brief mentions of drugs, alcohol, and sex. However these are all coming from the perspective of a young man who does not entirely understand these things, which may be even more off-putting.
I feel this book would be encouraged by administration.
I myself was excited as a student, I feel most students would feel good about reading this book. It definitely gave an interesting perspective and opened the door to great discussion and conversations.

This is a phenomenal book unlike any I have read before! I highly recommend everyone read this book.