The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

by Mark Haddon

Genre: Realistic fiction/Mystery
Age group: 11-12+

Christopher John Francis Boone has autism. His mother died a short while ago, and now it's just his father and himself. He is incredibly smart and knows every prime number up to 7,057. He observes things other people don't. He understands animals. But he isn't always the best at understanding people.
One night, Christopher notices that his neighbor's poodle, Wellington, has been stabbed with a garden fork. When the police accuse him of murdering the dog, he decides to be like Sherlock Holmes and find the real killer. 
But his dad disapproves. He thinks it's dangerous for Christopher to be walking around and questioning people about the crime. He wants Christopher to leave the matter alone. Christopher doesn't want to, and when his dad eventually takes his notebook with his account of the mystery away, he goes looking for it. And when he finally finds it, he also discovers some things about his parents' marriage that open up a whole new mystery. 

This book was very realistic. Christopher narrates the story, and Mark Haddon captures his voice perfectly. At times the book was actually a little bit sad.
This book is also very thoughtful. Christopher thinks about things other than the mystery at times, like math or the way humans evolved. Also, the plot is just thoughtful in general. It is an interesting situation with great characters, and it's a really well-told story. The inside flap of the book says "And herein lies the key to the brilliance of Mark Haddon's choice of narrator: The most wrenching of the emotional moments are chronicled by a boy who cannot fathom emotion." I agree with the inside flap. Having the narrator as an autistic child has so much more depth than if it were someone without autism. That's probably why I liked the book so much - it was poignant and real.