Molly Hopkins: Prompt #4

One of my favorite books that I have ever read is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon. I read this my junior year of high school and it still is one of my favorites. This book is about a young boy who has autism and the challenges he faces on a daily basis as well as in his relationships. Because of his autism, he is slightly OCD about many things in his life. He has a routine that he must follow and can be a very irritable child when this routine is broken or thrown off in any way. He is also incredibly good at math, like many children with autism, and there are many interesting math problems throughout the story.

The major conflict in the story is when the boy, Christopher’s parents separate because his mother runs off with their neighbor. Because of Christopher’s autism, he has trouble processing exactly what is going on and his parents are not really honest about what is happening either, in hopes of protecting him. The main plot revolves around how Christopher does not deal with this change in his routine well at all and runs away to try and find his mother because she just abandoned him.

The author of this book writes in first person, from the point of view of Christopher, so that readers can really get to know how someone with autism thinks. The author does a great job at making a very serious topic and situation lighter by adding in a lot of humor. I have cousin who has autism who is about the age of the boy in the book, and I have always been annoyed with his irritability, however, after reading this story, I have become much more tolerant of my cousin. Also after reading this book I became extremely interested in autism, especially children with autism and I hope to be able to work at a camp for children with autism at home this summer. This book is one of the few books that I have ever read that really made me think about my life and has effected me is some way. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a quick, funny, and inspiring read.