Reading Project 2010-2011
The Reading Project consists of a series of events designed to encourage reading, promote intellectual discussions, and stimulate debate among students, members of ISU, and our community. For the 2010-2011 Reading Project, the committee has selected The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, winner of the 2004 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book. The author has provided an insight on this book in an interview with Powell’s.
Goals
Encourage students, faculty, and staff to:
- Gain a common intellectual experience
- Participate in 2010-2011 events
- Lectures
- Essay Contest
- Panel Discussions
- Keynote Speaker
- Engage in cross-disciplinary thinking, dialogue, and debate
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a story about Christopher Boone, a 15-yr-old boy with autism and a die-hard fan of Sherlock Holmes novels. The novel narrates Christopher’s attempts to unravel the mystery of the death of a neighbor’s dog. We are allowed into the autistic mind of young man who has a poor understanding of human nature and emotions, but who is extremely analytical and logical when it comes to the understanding of his world. His approach of interpreting the world leads to a rare book filled with unexpected turns and an often comical point of view.
The author, Mark Haddon, explains why Christopher makes for such a compelling storyteller, “He can't understand other people's emotions, he misses the bigger picture and yet it makes him incredibly well suited to narrating a book. He never explains too much. He never tries to persuade the reader to feel about things this way or that way; he just kind of paints this picture and says, "Make of it what you will.”
Told through the eyes of a compelling narrator in a manner that broadens the readers knowledge and perspective on autism allows them to understand autism and how to deal with it in a more effective and compassionate way.
See the Resources page for study guides and questions to discuss as you read the book.