One of the best reads I've had in the last few years was Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, a story written in the first-person voice of Christopher Boone, an autistic 15-year-old.The triumph of this little novel is that you completely understand Christopher, who gets upset if touched and who calms himself down by moaning and doing math in his head. All of the chapters are numbered with prime numbers, because they are Christopher's favorites, and he won't eat yellow or brown food. He can't tell jokes, because "I do not understand them."Haddon makes Christopher real and sympathetic, which is no easy task. So, wouldn't you think a book that allows you to bond with a character so different and alienating would be the perfect teaching tool for young readers? Heck, for all readers? I did. I must have given away 10 copies of the book.
Some folks in Friendswood, TX disagree, citing profanity, the "intellectual value" of the subject, and Christopher's inability to conceptualize God or an afterlife as "values we shouldn't be promoting."Does the book promote atheism or profanity? I don't think so—I think it uses Christopher's inability to think in the abstract or to observe behavioral norms to describe his world. In a book club, these would open areas of discussion that might actually make people think, which is what I believe literature is supposed to do. I also know from personal experience that reading only writing that I already am comfortable with is not a good way to encourage thought.
