Realistic+Fiction

Click the links below to view 1-3 minute trailers for various Young Adult realistic fiction titles.

[|How to Build a House]

[|Right Behind You]

[|Useful Fools]

Haley Keglovits Mrs. Thompson-Calio 9 English Honors 23 Sept. 2011 The Curious Incident of a Marvelous Novel Hans Asperger once wrote, “For success in science and art, a dash of autism is essential,” (Silberman). //The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time,// written in 2003, is a novel that features just that success. Written by Mark Haddon, this book explores the life of someone who sees life through a different lens. Although the book is technically a mystery novel, many readers will find the book is also informative, funny, and unbelievably clever. I found this book to be a well written chance to delve into a brain that functions differently than my own. This novel is written through the eyes of Christopher John Francis Boone, who from the first sentences of the novel can be classified as having some type of autism, although that word is never used in the book. He is very skilled in math and other things having to do with logic, but does not do well with social interaction. One of his many quirks is being able to figure about sets of numbers very quickly, and he therefore titles all the chapters in the book as prime numbers: “Chapters in books are usually given the cardinal numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6 and so on. But I have decided to give my chapters prime numbers 2,3,5,7,11,13 and so on because I like prime numbers. This is how you work out what prime numbers are...” When Wellington, the dog belonging to his neighbor, Mrs. Shears, is mysteriously murdered, Christopher must know why and how to satisfy his need for answers. Although his father, Ed Boone, and his school teacher, Siobhan, advise him against it, Christopher searches for some information on the murder of Wellington. Instead, he finds information on his mother, Judy Boone, who he thought was dead. He is immediately thrown into an adventure involving new places, new people, and trains. The novel takes place all through the town of Swindon, England. As Christopher travels, each new location brings a solution to one question, but a plethora of new ones to investigate. It’s an adventure that young adults and beyond will love. I thought this novel was absolutely amazing. Christopher’s narration is completely unconventional, which is a welcome escape from the norm: “I had been hugging the dog for 4 minutes when I heard screaming. I looked up and saw Mrs. Shears running toward me from the patio. She was wearing pajamas and a housecoat. Her toenails were painted bright pink and she had no shoes on.” It is written very factually, and is therefore very easy to picture. Although it was harder to connect with any characters, as Christopher cannot explain what any of them are thinking or feeling, this did not detract from the story. I don’t know much about autism, so I cant be sure if this is really how they think, but it seemed very believable to me. This novel satisfied my craving for an interesting book. It introduced me to new information, a quirky character, and a great mystery. I think any reader will enjoy meeting Christopher, and following him on his adventure. After reading this fascinating story, one might even consider autism a sort of a gift rather than a disability.

Works Cited Silberman, Steve. “The Geek Syndrome.” //Wired// Dec. 2001: n. pag. //Wired//. Web. 22 Sept. 2011. < [|http://www.wired.com/‌wired/‌archive/‌9.12/‌aspergers.html] >.