The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Author: Mark Haddon

Publisher: Scoresby, Victoria: Random House Australia, 2004

Annotation:

This unconventional murder mystery novel is written in first-person unreliable narrative of Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old autistic guru with intelligence and passion of mathematics and space with a huge social fear and phobia of anything happening outside of his daily routine. Prime numbers are used as chapter numbers with visual representations and an appendix of proving complex mathematical formulas. The writing style and tone is bittersweet and moving, which gives an insight in Christopher’s thinking and mind. The storyline is character-driven where Christopher discovered the dead body of the neighbour’s poodle Wellington and decides to be the detective in the style of his favourite Sherlock Holmes. He embarks the journey by going through number of things outside his routine and comfort zone. He discovers family secrets and revelations about his mother, as he lived with dad as single parent thinking his mum had passed away.

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Rain Reign

Author: Ann M. Martin

Read by: Laura Hamilton

Length: 4hrs and 7mins

Publisher: USA: Brilliance Audio, 2014

Annotation:

This first-person narrative story of Rose, who is a fifth-grader diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and lives with strict and troubled father, is emotionally intense and attention-grabbing. She is an enthusiast and obsessed with homonyms, as the book title Rain Reign is an example of a homonym, and prime numbers. Her challenges in reading social cues, understanding emotions and controlling her outbursts and obsessions does make things difficult. Having a set of patterns, routine and habits would help deal control the difficulties day-by-day. The storyline is character-driven with the theme of me and my dog, where Rose shares an inseparable bond with her beloved dog pet that comforts and protects Rose.

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Audible Australia with audio sample

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Kids like us

Author: Hilary Reyl

Publisher: Melbourne, Victoria: The Text Publishing Company, 2017

Annotation:

This realistic and teenage romance fiction novel is a first-person narrative of a teenage boy name Martin, 16, on the high-functioning autism spectrum. The book chapters are not followed by conventional numbers, instead it is followed by date and timestamp. The tone is moving with writing style very thoughtful. Martin leaves from hometown to France with his mother and older sister for the summer, where he attends a local high school’s summer program. He has a crush on a girl who he thinks of a real-life character in his favourite book by the French author Marcel Proust. He figures out how to fall in love with overcoming challenges to his own perception and social interaction.

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Common Sense Media