Marisa,+Rachel,+Natali

=The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.=
 * We have decided to read this book because it sounds like a good read. It also has many good reviews**

The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Nighttime by Mark Haddon is considered a great read by goodreads.com. The main character, Christopher, is an autistic boy, obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, living in Swindon, Whilshire. He is a very smart boy in that he knows over seven thousand prime numbers, all the countries around the world including their capitals. However, what is strange about it character trait is that he doesn’t like to be touched, hugged, and he severely dislikes strangers. He is fifteen years old who investigates in the death of a dog called, Wellington. The dog was speared to death by a garden fork. His father, Ed, is a heating engineer. Christopher’s mother had died of a heart attack two years prior. While looking at all the reviews from this book, the majority of them were given four to five stars, which I consider to be excellent. Most readers have read this story in less than 24 hours, which proves that this is a book that is worthwhile to read. I believe I am going to like this because most people have gotten hooked on this book. Getting into a the book is the main reason why I like them. I also like to be able to relate to the characters and the feelings they endure. The genre of this is a murder mystery, which I’ve never tried before, but look forward to opening my mind to new things. This book looks very interesting and I am looking forward to reading it. This book should definitely be considered as one we should read in school.

=APPROVED= = = = =

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Today we discussed the first 45 pages of the book The Curious Dog in The Night Time. Some good points bought up consisted of underestimating autistic children, the relationship between the father and Christopher, who might’ve killed the dog Wellington. We made an assumption that Mrs. Boon didn’t die, she ran away with Mr. Sheers. We also came to an assumption that Mr. Boon possibly killed the dog because he didn’t show any emotion and he has been deeply upset and mad ever since his wife has been gone. Underestimating autistic children was the main point of concern because they are not stupid at all, they just learn at different rates. Just because they don’t communicate as well and show emotion as well as comprehending them, doesn’t mean they are retarded, it just means they are differently wired to where they need more time to understand. Christopher’s relationship with his father is distant by its close. It seems like his father is trying to hide something from him just by the way he acts around Christopher. Christopher wouldn’t know for sure if he was loved if he wasn’t told so constantly because his father doesn’t show it as much. ====== First Discussion Questions: 1. Christopher and his father have a unique relationship. Do you think Christopher's father handled the situation well with his son?

2. As the book proves, autistic people are very smart, despite what other people might think. Do you think they get underestimated because they lack the communication skills?

3. Do you think the diagrams in the book help understand Christopher or just explain the story better?

4. Given Christopher’s aversion of being touched, can he experience his parents love for him, or can he only understand it because they tell him they love him?

5. Christopher explains why he doesn’t like yellow and brown, and admits that his decision is a way to simplify the world. Why does he need to make the world simpler?

Week 2 - Language

A - Natali B/C - Rachel D - Marisa

What was your first impression upon reading the first few pages of the next few chapters?

What does Christopher like? What does he not like? Why doesn’t he like them?

Why does the author start most sentences with a preposition?

What is Christopher’s special gift?

Do you think Christopher likes peanut butter because it is brown?

Do you think Christopher handles his OCD well when eating yellow or brown food by masking it with red food coloring?

Summary: Natali, Rachel and I had a very productive second book club. Even though we all thought the book started to slow down we still are wanting to read more of it. There was a lot of unnecessary explanations in the book, but for Christopher it's necessary. That is how he explains himself.We also shared our thoughts on whether or not his father taking him to the zoo was a pity trip. If you guardian hits you, feels sorry that they did that, and then takes you somewhere fun, what would you think? Our group also came to the conclusion about what he likes and dislikes. Whether or not he likes the brown crust on bread is still questionable. He did have a sandwich with bread, but it didn't say if he took the crust off or not. Since Christopher is very precise about where things go and what things cant touch which, we came to the conclusion that he might have a little OCD. We are still unsure about what exactly happened in the book, so by next week we might have a better clue.

Week 3 - Mood and Tone.

Summary. - Marisa, Natali and I had a great discussion over the book. We talked about how surprised we were over the "death" of Christopher's mother. We discussed how we thought it was wrong that Christopher ran away and how he could have handled the situation better. At first, we were all very into the book after the second meeting, we all were getting a little bored. Now we are all into the book and are very anxious to read what will happen next with Christopher, his dad and his mother. Discussion Questions : 1. What does Christopher find his father has hidden form him after all these years?

2. How does he react and what does he decide to do?

3. How does Christopher's father handle the newly occurred incident?

Week 4. Symbols and Images.

Marisa. Discussion Questions.

Did you find it odd that he didn't throw away his ticket because it was yellow?

Was it wrong of him to run away? Who do you think is the better parent, the one who lied or the one that abandoned him?

What do you think will happen once he find his mother?

Who will he want to live with?

Do you think his dad will be angry?

Are you finding the book with a lot of unneeded pages?

Do you think he's overcoming some of his fears?

Is he learning to deal with his obstacles? EX: train ticket, getting information from strangers.

Will the mom come back to with Christopher?

Summary: Natali. the book is starting to get more and more interesting and more eventful as we read on. today we discussed how christopher ran away from home to find his mother. he took a train to london where his mother is living with his neighbors husband, they ran away together. christopher's dad doesn't know about this but we assumed he is going to be very furious at first but understanding in time. christopher wants to live with his mother but is definitely better off living with his father because he is the better parent overall. we also discussed the dog that was killed in the beginning of the book and how much it meant to christopher. we know the father killed the dog and are now thinking he killed the dog as a "coverup", meaning he said the mother died when she really ran away with the neighbor and killed the same neighbors dog as a distraction for christopher. the dog might and might not symbolize christopher's innocence, we are not sure about that yet but will find out more as we read more into the book.

Week 5. Rachel. What did you think of the ending of the book? Why do you think Christopher’s mom left Mr. Shears? Why do you think Mr. Shears is so bitter? Do you think that Christopher reacted okay with my dad coming to find him? Are you glad Christopher finished his book? Do you think this book gave you a better understanding of autism?

Summary 5 Our last week of our book club was interesting. It was a mix decision on whether or not we liked the book. We have better understand of autistic people. We talked about whether it was right of the father to buy Chris a dog, or if he was just buying his love. We also discussed if the father was just trying to get Chris to forgive him for lying. WE came to the conclusion that Mr. Shears might have forced the mother to run away with him. He ended up acting really mean and not really caring about anyone. I would recommend this book to all ages. Sometimes we need to know what a person is thinking to understand them a little better.