Hello all, the book I am reading for this book report is 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time', by Mark Haddon (I know it has a long title. It is an unusual book). So far I have read 24 pages out of 268.
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This book is a murder mystery novel, but this is a very unusual one, because this book is about a murder of a dog, not a person. Another uncommon thing about this
book is that the number of the chapters aren't consecutive/1, 2, 3, etc., but prime numbers. So the first chapter is 2, the second one is 3, then 5, etc. This book is in first person, and according to the main character, it is a book written by him. The main character is Christopher Boone, a fifteen year-old boy who has Asperger's Syndrome. He is extraordinarily good at math, likes non-fiction, science (I think), does not like to tell lies, and doesn't get along with people (because of his Syndrome). In (the beginning of) the book, he is precise about what the time is currently, so from time to time he says what time it is. Throughout the book, he tries to solve the mystery of Wellington (a dog owned by Mrs. Shears - Christopher and his father's friend/neighbor)'s death, when he finds it killed by a garden fork at night.
So far, the setting of this book is just around the neighborhood where Christopher lives, in Swindon, England. It is (I think) 1998. The setting changes several times, from the front lawn of Mrs. Shears' house, the police station (possibly/probably the closest one), and Christopher and his father's house, so I can't specifically say a setting in general. But I can explain the very first setting, because it is specific, and Christopher explains when and where he is, for (according to him) it is the part which grabs people's attention; the crime scene. It is 7 minutes after midnight, in Mrs. Shears' front lawn, with a wet and cold grass spread out on the ground. It said that Mrs. Shears' house is right across the road from Christopher's, so I guess the house(s) are all next to a road. I can't really tell which weather it is, because it didn't appear so far, and because it isn't a very obvious weather, for example, when its snowing. This is a guess, but I think it might be fall or early spring, because it said that the grass was cold and wet, which means it probably rained previously. Another reason why I guessed this is because when the police arrived after Wellington was found dead, it was written that one of the police officer's shoes had a leaf inside of it. The season which rains without snow and has fallen leaves is spring and fall. Since it is a little bit past midnight, it is the darkest time of the night, (I guess) cold, quiet and isolated (Christopher says that he usually comes out late at night because no one is around and it is quiet), and I guess peaceful and calm, just a bit gloomy/ominous ((lets imagine/role-play) There is a dead dog with a garden fork sticking out of it in the middle of a lawn with wet and cold grass, in the middle of the night, when nobody (except you) is around. And it is fall (HALLOWEEN). How would you feel? I would feel very moody and scared. It would just be very creepy when it dawns on you that there is a dead dog which you know, and it was JUST killed by some murderous person (in the book, the dog's muzzle was warm). The murderer could still be around. Okay, so this was just a repetition of the setting in a much more realistic way so that you could also see it.) This was a description of the first setting.
So far, the setting of this book is just around the neighborhood where Christopher lives, in Swindon, England. It is (I think) 1998. The setting changes several times, from the front lawn of Mrs. Shears' house, the police station (possibly/probably the closest one), and Christopher and his father's house, so I can't specifically say a setting in general. But I can explain the very first setting, because it is specific, and Christopher explains when and where he is, for (according to him) it is the part which grabs people's attention; the crime scene. It is 7 minutes after midnight, in Mrs. Shears' front lawn, with a wet and cold grass spread out on the ground. It said that Mrs. Shears' house is right across the road from Christopher's, so I guess the house(s) are all next to a road. I can't really tell which weather it is, because it didn't appear so far, and because it isn't a very obvious weather, for example, when its snowing. This is a guess, but I think it might be fall or early spring, because it said that the grass was cold and wet, which means it probably rained previously. Another reason why I guessed this is because when the police arrived after Wellington was found dead, it was written that one of the police officer's shoes had a leaf inside of it. The season which rains without snow and has fallen leaves is spring and fall. Since it is a little bit past midnight, it is the darkest time of the night, (I guess) cold, quiet and isolated (Christopher says that he usually comes out late at night because no one is around and it is quiet), and I guess peaceful and calm, just a bit gloomy/ominous ((lets imagine/role-play) There is a dead dog with a garden fork sticking out of it in the middle of a lawn with wet and cold grass, in the middle of the night, when nobody (except you) is around. And it is fall (HALLOWEEN). How would you feel? I would feel very moody and scared. It would just be very creepy when it dawns on you that there is a dead dog which you know, and it was JUST killed by some murderous person (in the book, the dog's muzzle was warm). The murderer could still be around. Okay, so this was just a repetition of the setting in a much more realistic way so that you could also see it.) This was a description of the first setting.
For the first book project of 7th grade I started by reading the mystery novel, Mrs. McGinty's Dead. French Detective, Hercule Poirot went to England to research on the evidence of who killed Mrs. McGinty. He first goes to Mrs. McGinty's old house where she had lived for around 20 years until her husband died. Then she lived there alone for 7 years. The town that she lived in was a dull and sad place, especially because someone who is thought to be innocent is being hanged. James Bentley, a kind man who helped out Mrs. McGinty since her husband died, was thought to be the murderer. Hercule Poirot was the only one who thought there was still hope for Mr. Bentley. Mr. Poirot had gone to the previous boss of Mr. James Bentley, who had said (sarcastically) "while there is life there is hope, eh" That would actually just ruin Hercule's mood for the day. Most importantly, all of this is happening in the 1800's. I myself find this book very sad and it is starting to get a bit exiting because now the niece has also been accused and the husband to the niece of Mrs. McGinty too. So who is it. Is it James, is it the Niece, or is it the Niece's husband. It's a good book to read and I would recommend it to anyone who likes mystery novels.