The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Christopher Boone is 15 years old, a mathematical genius, and autistic. He can???'t tolerate the colours yellow and brown. He groans to calm himself down and does maths puzzles to relax. He doesn't understand emotions, cannot tolerate being touched and is unable to take too much new information in at a time.

His precisely planned world goes into turmoil when he discovers Wellington, the neighbour???'s poodle, dead with a garden fork through him. The neighbour in question catches him cradling the dog and had him arrested.

While in the slammer, Christopher resolved to discover who killed Wellington. His father and neighbours objected to this, but he gets encouragement from Siobhan, a social worker at his school, to write a book about his investigations.

What began as a murder mystery gradually turned into something bigger and more personal than he could imagine. A revelation sent him running off to London, which is nothing to most 15-year olds, but was terrifying for someone who can mentally cave in from information overload.

If it were any other teenager, this book would have been an angst fest. From an autistic savant's perspective, you'll be drawn to look at the world through his eyes.

Despite the fact that Christopher keeps insisting that this is not a going to be a funny book, his literal observations are often side-splitting.

I arrived at this book years late, but it is still worth it. Now here's an award winner I heartily approve of.

(2006)