The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time facts for kids
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| Author | Mark Haddon |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English and 36 others |
| Genre | Mystery novel |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape (UK) Doubleday (US) Anchor Canada (Canada) |
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Publication date
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May 1, 2003 |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
| Pages | 274 |
| ISBN | 0-09-945025-9 |
| OCLC | 59267481 |
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a 2003 mystery novel by British writer Mark Haddon. Its title refers to an observation by the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes (created by Arthur Conan Doyle) in the 1892 short story "The Adventure of Silver Blaze". Haddon and The Curious Incident won the Whitbread Book Awards for Best Novel and Book of the Year, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book, and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. Unusually, it was published simultaneously in separate editions for adults and children.
The novel is narrated in the first-person perspective by Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15-year-old boy who is described as "a mathematician with some behavioural difficulties" living in Swindon, Wiltshire. Although Christopher's condition is not stated, the book's blurb refers to Asperger syndrome (which today would be described as an autism spectrum disorder), high-functioning autism, or savant syndrome. In July 2009, Haddon wrote on his blog that "The Curious Incident is not a book about Asperger's...if anything it's a novel about difference, about being an outsider, about seeing the world in a surprising and revealing way. The book is not specifically about any specific disorder", and that he, Haddon, is not an expert on the autism spectrum or Asperger syndrome.
The book uses prime numbers to number the chapters, rather than the conventional successive numbers. Originally written in English, it has been translated into 36 additional languages.
Plot
Christopher John Francis Boone is a 15-year-old boy with autism living in Swindon, England, with his widowed father, Ed. Christopher’s mother Judy was known to have passed away from a heart attack two years prior to the events of the story. One day, Christopher discovers that his neighbor Mrs. Shears’ dog, Wellington, has been fatally speared with a garden fork. As Christopher mourns over Wellington’s body, Mrs. Shears calls the police. When a policeman grabs Christopher’s arm, Christopher panics and hits him, resulting in him being arrested for assaulting a police officer, though he is quickly released with a police caution. He decides to investigate the dog's death, chronicling any information he receives in a book. During his investigation, he meets the elderly Mrs. Alexander, who informs Christopher that his mother was in a relationship with Mr. Shears.
Ed discovers the book and confiscates it. While searching Ed’s room for the book, Christopher finds letters from his mother dated after her supposed death, leading him to become distressed and enter a catatonic state. Realizing that Christopher has discovered the letters, Ed admits to lying about Judy's death; she is still alive and living in London with Mr. Shears. Ed also confesses that he had killed Wellington in anger after an argument with Mrs. Shears. Christopher decides to run away and live with his mother.
After a long, event-filled journey, evading policemen and feeling ill from the trains and crowds around him, he finally finds his way to the home of his mother and Mr. Shears, much to the delight of the former and chagrin of the latter. Soon after arriving, Christopher wants to return to Swindon in order to take his mathematics A-level. Judy leaves Mr. Shears as he becomes increasingly hostile towards both her and Christopher.
After an argument, Judy agrees to let Ed see Christopher for brief daily visits. Christopher remains apprehensive of Ed, hoping he will be imprisoned for killing Wellington. Ed gifts Christopher a puppy, promising that he will gradually rebuild trust with his son. Christopher declares that he will take further exams and attend university. He completes his mathematics A-level with top grades. The book ends with Christopher optimistic about his future.
Themes
Social disability
In a 2003 interview, Haddon said
In big I have to say honestly that I did more research about the London Underground and the inside of Swindon Railway Station, where some of the novel takes place, than I did about Asperger's syndrome. I gave [Christopher] kind of 9 or 10 rules that he would live his life by, and then I didn't read any more about Asperger's because I think there is no typical person who has Asperger's syndrome, and they're as large and diverse a group of people as any other group in society. And the important thing is that I did a lot of imagining, that I did a lot of putting myself into his shoes in trying to make him come alive as a human being rather than getting him right, whatever that might mean.
Haddon states on his website that, although he had read "a handful of newspaper and magazine articles about, or by, people with Asperger's and autism" in preparation for writing the book, he knows "very little" about Asperger's syndrome and that Christopher Boone is inspired by two different people. According to Haddon, none of these people can be labelled as having a disability. Haddon added that he "slightly regret[s]" that the term Asperger's syndrome appeared on the cover of his novel. In 2010, in an interview with The Independent, he was described as
now thoroughly irritated that the word Asperger's appeared on subsequent editions of the novel, because now everyone imagines that he is an expert and he keeps getting phone calls asking him to appear at lectures.
Metaphor
Christopher often comments on his inability to appreciate some metaphors. He gives as an example a quote that he found in "a proper novel": "I am veined with iron, with silver, and with streaks of common mud. I cannot contract into the firm fist which those clench who do not depend on stimulus." Haddon told Terry Gross, "Funnily enough, it's actually a quote from Virginia Woolf. It's Virginia Woolf on an off day, in the middle, I think, of The Waves. An author whom I love actually, but who sometimes got a little too carried away."
Multimodality
The novel is developed in various semiotic modes or resources: maps, diagrams, pictures, smileys, and the like, which are not ornamental but crucial to the understanding of the novel. This means that Haddon's novel can be conceived as multimodal.
Adaptations
Stage
A stage adaptation, by Simon Stephens and directed by Marianne Elliott, premiered at the National Theatre on 2 August 2012. It starred Luke Treadaway as Christopher, Nicola Walker as his mother Judy, Paul Ritter as his father Ed, Una Stubbs as Mrs Alexander and Niamh Cusack as Siobhan. The production, which ran until late October, was broadcast live to cinemas worldwide on 6 September through the National Theatre Live programme.
The production transferred to the Apollo Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue, London, from March 2013. On 19 December, during a performance, parts of the ceiling fell down, injuring around 80 of the over 700 patrons inside. It re-opened at the Gielgud Theatre on 24 June 2014. The new West End cast was led by Graham Butler as Christopher Boone, with Sarah Woodward as Siobhan, Nicolas Tennant as Ed, Emily Joyce as Judy, Gay Soper as Mrs Alexander, Vicky Willing as Mrs Shears and Daniel Casey as Mr. Shears. In 2015 the cast was Sion Daniel Young as Christopher Boone, with Rebecca Lacey as Siobhan, Nicolas Tennant as Ed, Mary Stockley as Judy, Jacqueline Clarke as Mrs Alexander, Indra Ové as Mrs Shears, Stephen Beckett as Roger Shears, Matthew Trevannion as Mr Thompson, Pearl Mackie as No. 40/Punk Girl, Sean McKenzie as Reverend Peters and Kaffe Keating plays alternate Christopher. They were joined by Mark Rawlings, Penelope McGhie, Naomi Said and Simon Victor.
Mickey Rowe was the first openly autistic actor to play Christopher Boone in the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He documented this experience in the book Fearlessly Different: An Autistic Actor's Journey to Broadway's Biggest Stage.
An adaptation and translation into Spanish by María Renée Prudencio played at the Teatro de los Insurgentes in Mexico City in June 2014. The character of Christopher was played by Luis Gerardo Méndez and by Alfonso Dosal on alternate days. An Israeli adaptation (translation into Hebrew by Daniel Efrat) has been staged at the Beit Lessin Theater in Tel Aviv since March of the same year, starring Nadav Netz as Christopher; in 2015, Netz won the Best Actor category at the Israeli Theater Awards for his performance.
An adaptation and translation into French by Dominique Hollier premiered at the Théâtre de la Tempête in Paris, directed by Philippe Adrien, running from September 11 through 18 October 2015. It also ran at Théâtre Le Moderne, in Liege, Belgium, direction by Daniel Henry-Smith, from 28 April through 13 May 2017.
An adaptation and translation into Danish by Christian Bundegaard premiered at the Odense Teater, September 2019, starring Kristoffer Helmuth as Christopher.
The production began a 10th anniversary UK & Ireland tour at Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre on 20 November 2021.
Film
The film rights for the novel were optioned by Brad Grey and Brad Pitt for Warner Brothers. In 2011 Steve Kloves was attached to write and direct the project, but as of 2023 it has not yet been produced.
A Bengali-English adaptation of the novel has been filmed by Sudipto Roy called Kia and Cosmos, with the gender roles of the characters reversed, and the plot centering around the killing of a cat called Cosmos.
See also
In Spanish: El curioso incidente del perro a medianoche para niños
