A Curious Choice
I think that a good way to hook kids with this book THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME would be to have the body of a dog taped out on the floor, a pitch fork nearby, and police tape surrounding the scene, sort of like the demonstration described in Fisher Chapter 2. :-) I would be more captivated by that, coupled with a read aloud, and maybe some sort of digital story discussing autism than having to read an article on autism and matching emotiocons. Unfortunately, I'm only to page 12 and I'm finding the book boring already. I'll say that pages 1-8 were interesting, but as soon as the narrator told me that he wouldn't be telling any jokes and then started to talk about math, my brain shut off and I had to reread pages 10 and 11.
From my experience teaching 8th grade language arts (tracked students all with reading stanines 1-6); I would not use this book. I think the language is manageable with some vocabulary frontloading, but I'm not sure how a number of my students would relate to this strange narrator and his fascinations. The lexile score for this book (1180) places it at a 10th-12th grade reading level which I think is more appropriate, especially considering the profanity. I'm interested to hear more about how this book went over when it was taught in the 8th grade setting Ms. Kadjar started to describe in class.
.... ....After finishing the book. I'd say the book was so-so. I admired the writing that went into it, but I didn't find it particularly engaging and might not of been inspired enough to finish it had not someone given me a synopsis of the ending, which sparked my curiosity. I did love how the book in itself served as sort of a map of Christopher's journey in finding his identity, his place in the world and his place among people. I also liked how the book itself taught how to be a good writer, a good mathematician, and and a good detective; I felt I was learning a lot as I was reading. I thought the use of narrator in this story was excellent, not only in that it let us get glimpses of the complicated and sometimes depressing realities going around Christopher in an objective way, but it also allowed us a glimpse into a mind that we would normally be shut out of. I found myself relating to Christopher's idiosyncrasies and ideologies of life as I read. The conclusions that Christopher comes to on his search for self were compelling and real to me. As a writer, I was impressed how the author took an ordinary story and infused it with orginality. However, I'm not sure that my eighth grade students would have truly appreciated what the author was ultimately saying about human behavior and emotion, intuition and logic, the intricacies of our world, and the rationalizations we all have for our actions. I feel that a truly struggling reader would have been discouraged by the jumpy narration, the long and sometimes boring descriptions, and the fragmented and sometimes slightly esoteric digressions that on the one hand made the story "original," but on the other hand made me question my investment in reading.
From my experience teaching 8th grade language arts (tracked students all with reading stanines 1-6); I would not use this book. I think the language is manageable with some vocabulary frontloading, but I'm not sure how a number of my students would relate to this strange narrator and his fascinations. The lexile score for this book (1180) places it at a 10th-12th grade reading level which I think is more appropriate, especially considering the profanity. I'm interested to hear more about how this book went over when it was taught in the 8th grade setting Ms. Kadjar started to describe in class.
.... ....After finishing the book. I'd say the book was so-so. I admired the writing that went into it, but I didn't find it particularly engaging and might not of been inspired enough to finish it had not someone given me a synopsis of the ending, which sparked my curiosity. I did love how the book in itself served as sort of a map of Christopher's journey in finding his identity, his place in the world and his place among people. I also liked how the book itself taught how to be a good writer, a good mathematician, and and a good detective; I felt I was learning a lot as I was reading. I thought the use of narrator in this story was excellent, not only in that it let us get glimpses of the complicated and sometimes depressing realities going around Christopher in an objective way, but it also allowed us a glimpse into a mind that we would normally be shut out of. I found myself relating to Christopher's idiosyncrasies and ideologies of life as I read. The conclusions that Christopher comes to on his search for self were compelling and real to me. As a writer, I was impressed how the author took an ordinary story and infused it with orginality. However, I'm not sure that my eighth grade students would have truly appreciated what the author was ultimately saying about human behavior and emotion, intuition and logic, the intricacies of our world, and the rationalizations we all have for our actions. I feel that a truly struggling reader would have been discouraged by the jumpy narration, the long and sometimes boring descriptions, and the fragmented and sometimes slightly esoteric digressions that on the one hand made the story "original," but on the other hand made me question my investment in reading.
posted by Lisa Smith | 7:23 PM
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