Book 1: Project

Are you a fan of Mark Haddon’s creative tale about mystery and deception? The adventure that always kept us on tilt with clever twists, some call it The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night- Time, but the true fans out there can call it their life. Do you not want your journey with Christopher to end? I know just what you need, Christopher’s play set. This kit includes his most prized possessions maps of London, a toy train, a toy rat, red car key chain, rocket ship, flashcards emotions such as happy J and sadL, and no worries, none of these items are yellow. This kit will let you continue your adventure with Christopher, in a sense; it’s almost like your partners!

Christopher in Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time always likes to know where he is, so when he is in a new place, he needs a map so he can orient himself wherever he is. With this collection of maps you will never be lost no matter where you are, well in London at least. The toy train will remind you too keep time tables like Christopher does, with this pack you will never get lost in time, you will always know where or when you are and where you need to be. Keeping a schedule will help you stay calm. You will always be able to tell where you need to be. With this kit, you will never have to worry about being alone. Toby will always be with you. Toby is Christopher’s loyal sidekick (Even if he does occasionally escape) and now he can be yours too, only this mouse doesn’t need to be fed or like the real Toby, cleaned. Also, Christopher’s good luck charm can now be yours, and you will always have a good day like Christopher’s, “So because it was a Super Good Day I decided to walk into the park with Mrs. Alexander even though it scared me.”(Haddon 73) When you carry this key chain every day will be a super good day and you can have the confidence to do anything you want, unless of course, you see 5 yellow cars, then you should be careful. You will always be happy when you see the image of this rocket ship, like Christopher’s shown enthusiasm “I knew that it meant "happy," like when I'm reading about the Apollo space missions..." You can use this object to remind you of your dreams, and enjoy just the mere thought of doing what you’ve always wanted. He doesn’t show this much happiness to many things besides math, so you can use this as motivation, to achieve your greatest goal. You can have as much dedication as he had throughout the story to finish what he had started and uncover the whole truth, even if he couldn’t really understand it. These items will also help you with your social abilities, with the help of Christopher’s friend Siobhan “I got Siobhan to draw lots of these faces and then write down next to them exactly what they meant. I kept the piece of paper in my pocket and took it out when I didn't understand what someone was saying.”(Haddon 3) These cards will help you envision all the different faces in the story and emotions shown in the story. You will never have to worry about being confused by the tone of someone, you can read their facial expressions with childish ease, but you have to be quick if you want to get a real accurate description of their feelings.

            With this play set you will be able to work with Christopher’s ideas and better understand his logical ways.  This kit will allow you to be in the position of Christopher’s thought process, play with the objects he did and understand his confusion at things that most of us see as non-important. If you think about what he says about red cars and time, he seems pretty reasonable and you start looking the world different, maybe not a whole lot, but if you ever see 5 red cars in a row maybe you could think it will be a good day. If you’re bored on a rainy afternoon, you can play around with the toys too, and live through Christopher’s routine.