Book Report : THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME

This book is called, ‘THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME’ written by Mark Haddon. It is a book about a boy with a condition who is trying to deal with complex relationships in his family. While dealing with them, he experiences mixed emotions and overcomes his awkwardness of talking to strangers and learns to show empathy and trust – which are difficult for him. Christopher likes two things very much: Math and dogs. The book starts with Christopher wanting to solve the mystery of Who Killed Wellington (the neighbour’s dog) and that changes a big part of his personality and also his life. Because, it  leads him to solve an even bigger mystery in his own life. When he tells his dad that Wellington is dead, his dad gets upset and tells him off for mentioning a person called Mr. Shears. Christopher has a lot of problems but doesn’t know yet that they are all related. In school, Christopher has to write a book and he writes about the mystery he is solving. A while ago, Christopher’s mother ran away with another person because she didn’t think that she was a good mother. She didn’t have time to tell Christopher so left Christopher’s dad in charge of that. Christopher’s dad, being very upset, turned the story upside down and said that Christopher’s mother was dead. One thing that Christopher doesn’t like is lies. Christopher didn’t know the truth so he believed his dad until one fine day Christopher’s dad hid his book so he could not find it. Christopher starts to look for it and lands up in his dad’s room. He finds a number of letters from his mom. After reading them, he realises that his mom is not dead. His dad sees Christopher reading the letters and then tells him that he is sorry and confesses that he was the one who killed Wellington in a fit of anger. Christopher thinks that he can no longer trust his dad and that it is not safe for him to be living with him anymore. So, he packs his stuff and heads to London where his mother is. After a long adventure on trains, he reaches his mom’s new house and sees Mr. Shears  with her. That night, Christopher’s mother makes an important realisation and makes a decision that it wasn’t safe for Christopher and her to live with Mr. Shears. So, Christopher and his mom drive back to Swindon where Christopher’s dad lives and went back to the house. Finally, Christopher and his mom move into a new room and Christopher and his father work on an important project: Learning to trust each other again.

What I like about the book is:

• I really like the way this book is formatted. Each chapter is a prime number. How interesting! I also like the way illustrations are used to help express what Christopher wants the reader to know
• One really interesting thing that I find with people who have conditions in books is that they seem to be very fond of prime numbers. In Rain Reign, there was Rose who was obsessed with prime numbers. Prime numbers are special because they are different and can’t be divided by any number except itself or 1. I wonder whether Mark Haddon and other authors who write about autism and other types of conditions may have chosen their characters to like prime numbers because they are different or unique – just like the chracters.
• This book reminded me of Rain Reign and a little bit of Ella Enchanted too. Rain Reign because Rose, the main character, also has a condition and Ella Enchanted because she has to obey whereas Christopher and Rose don’t like to be ordered.
• The author really brought the story to life. I was trying to anticipate what would happen next. I flipped through the pages one day and caught a glimpse of the sentence, ‘Father killed Wellington.’. Even though I knew the solution to the mystery but I clung onto the book to read Christopher’s own description and thoughts.
• This book is also quite tragic. I know that my parents love me, whereas, I think that because Christopher doesn’t like to be touched and doesn’t feel that sense of love that other people feel, he only thinks that his parents love him because he has heard them say it to him before.
• One of the touching part of the books is when Christopher’s mother chooses her son and sacrifices her relationship with Mr. Shears. It was her love for Christopher that made her sacrifice Mr. Shears and help Christopher. I think that that is very brave.
• At the back of the book in one of the paragraphs before the praise, there is a line which says ‘Christopher has no understanding of human emotions.’ I disagree with this statement because at times in the book, he leaves his father alone because he knows that he is angry and might start a fight. Also, he understands those emoji signs and how they make people feel. I really think that that line is being unfair to Christopher! (I am standing up for imaginary characters! Wicked!)
• Finally, FUN TIME! Here are a few questions for young adults who have read the book:

1.    What did Christopher’s father gift Christopher as a present?

2.   What is the name of Christopher’s teacher?

3.   How many prime numbers does Christopher know?

4.   What type of novel is this?

5.   How many letters did Christopher’s mom write to Christopher?

What I think the Author could have done differently:

• I think the author could have put in less swear words. I was almost not allowed to read this book because of the swear words but then my mom and my tecacher had a chat with me before I was allowed to read the book. Since this is a book that is suppsed to be for adults and children, I think that maybe he could have shown more restraint or care on the language used.

I WOULD GIVE THIS BOOK A 9 OUT OF 10 RATING!

FIND OUT WHAT I MEAN BY READING THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME!

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Book Report : MY SISTER LIVES ON THE MANTLEPIECE

This book is called ‘MY SISTER LIVES ON THE MANTELPIECE’ written by Annabel Pitcher. It is about a 10-year-old boy named Jamie who has two sisters. One sister died in a terrorist attack (allegedly led by some people who followed Islam) but Jamie doesn’t remember the incident. Her name was Rose. When he was 9 years old, Jamie’s mom left them and moved away. Jamie really tries to think of ways to get them back together. In the meantime, his other sister Jas supports him and takes care of him well. Jamie is very sad and shocked but Jas is more hurt because she left them on her birthday. Jamie is a very confused boy because he just doesn’t know why Jas and his dad can’t move past the death of his long-gone sister, Rose. Jamie’s dad is too sad to throw her ashes into the sea and Jas seems to miss Rose. Jamie always feels very irritated and jealous because when it’s Jamie’s birthday, his dad gives Rose who doesn’t even exist a piece of cake. It’s like another person is living with them even though she doesn’t actually exist. Jamie can’t make much sense of his surroundings until he makes a new Muslim friend who is like him. Her name is Sunya. She understands him and likes the things that he does. The two become close friends. Jamie spends time with Sunya and one night, his dad even offers her a ride without knowing that she is a Muslim. He starts to like Sunya. One fine Parents Night, when Jamie and his dad are about to leave, Sunya and her parents come in. They greet Jamie and his dad goes mental. He shouts, screams and abuses them. Sunya’s family is heartbroken. Jamie hates his dad for abusing his best friend, her religion and family. In the meantime, Jamie has an idea to bring his mom and dad back together. He and Jas enter the Britain’s Got Talent competition and Jas gets in but refuses the next round. Jamie’s mom came to watch but leaves almost after saying ‘hi’ and ‘how are you?’ Jamie suddenly realizes that his mom didn’t care about them and never did. He is shocked and sad. And to make it worse, when Jamie gets back from his audition, his cat, Roger has gone missing! Later, he finds Roger dead on the street. His heart pounds hard and aches. For the first time in five years, Jamie cries and oh boy! He cries a lot. Jamie now realizes why his dad couldn’t move past Rose’s death: Because it was too hard to let go and he loved her too much. When Jas and his dad find out, they support him but Jamie’s dad does something almost unbelievable. He takes the urn in which Rose’s ashes are and along with Jamie, empties them out and helps Jamie bury Roger. At last, Jamie’s dad shows empathy and also realizes that if he doesn’t empty his ashes and save his living family now, he will lose them too. He feels like he needs to support his son and get him to move past Roger’s death, too.

What I like about the book:

• I really like how Roger the cat plays a big role in the story. I am a cat lover and wondering how great it was that Roger played such a big role in the book.
• This book reminded me of The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time because; it is also about family issues and affairs. Look out for my review of the book in some time. 
• One of the more touching moments of the book is when Jas gives Jamie a Spider Man t-shirt but pretends its his mom who gave it because she didn’t want Jamie to have to handle a lot of things. He wears it all the time until he figures out that Jas gave it to him and he thanks her. He takes off the t-shirt and knowing that he needn’t care about his mom if she didn’t care about him, he becomes an entirely different human. He feels stronger, more courageous and he feels more grown up.
• Apart from the great writing, the author was trying to make a big point in the book. Jamie’s father puts all the blame on Muslims even though only a few people who happened to be Muslim had been responsible for the incident in which he lost Rose. The point that the author is making is that racism is a very bad thing and it is something that a lot of us do nowadays. It makes us abuse other people’s religions when, we ourselves, don’t know much about it. As the old proverb goes: Don’t judge books by their cover.

I WOULD GIVE THIS BOOK A 9 OUT OF 10 RATING!

FIND OUT WHAT I MEAN BY READING ‘MY SISTER LIVES ON THE MANTELPIECE’!

YOU CAN BUY IT HERE $3.49!           

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