Will "The Incident" Awaken My Students' Curiosity?

After reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, I’m wondering if I could use this book with my students. I worry because of the profanity and some of the more “adult” scenes, but when I worry, I’m not worrying so much about whether or not it will damage my students (of course it won’t: they’ve heard and used all the words before, and TV, popular music, and movies have far worse content than this book), I’m worrying about parental complaints. I almost don’t think it will be a problem, but I plan to send home permission slips to have my students read the book. If the students do not return the permission slips, I will call those specific parents and have an oral verification as to whether they can read it or not.

In the end, I think the benefits of reading this book far outweigh the risks of parental objection. There is so much cross-curricular substance to build on, as well as a frank and open discussion of the writing process. It will also be easier for my students to read, because of the white space, short sections, illustrations, and syntax. It also provides critical points for discussing code-switching, learning about English geography and culture, text features, sensory details, simile and metaphor, rhetorical questions, tone and voice, character development, dialogue, and reflecting on the writing process itself. In addition, the larger higher order questions about the truth, the literal, the logical, and what it means to be human are also addressed in the book, which could serve to really help push my students’ critical thinking and higher order reasoning skills.

Finally, I want to use the book because I’m hoping that the book will grab my students’ attention and keep them interested with its humor, suspense, and mystery. (I hope it will!)