The 48th meeting of mother-daughter bookclub was on March 13, 2005 at Robin and Alexandra’s house to discuss "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. Robin and Molly and Megan and Vicki and Molly were all missed.

We had tea complete with sandwiches and scones and homemade cookies. We nibbled on boston baked beans (candy), red licorice laces and milky ways.

We looked at a handout of facial expressions and discussed its use in helping autistic children express their feelings.

We shared our impressions of the novel. Most of us liked the book, though some more then others. We had a discussion about the use of language -- most of us were NOT offended by the cursing as there was SO much more of importance to discuss. We acknowledged that this book was really written for adults but has been reviewed as bridging a gap between adult and children’s literature.

Jill asked why parents think it will make life easier for their children if they lie. We had a discussion of why the dad lied about his wife’s disappearance -- did he really think it would be easier for his son? Did he want her out of his life? Did she want to be out of his life? Why did the dad save the letters? For later? Did he intend to tell his son when he got older? We talked about Christopher’s relationship with his father and mother. Andi Lynn felt badly that he got yelled at so much.

We discussed character development and the perspective of the story -- Christopher’s point of view. We talked at length about diagnoses of autism and asperger’s and how this affected not only Chris’s mind but also the life of his parents and the people around him. We talked about how sometimes people can look "typical" on the outside but have severe thought disorders and how important it is to be empathetic to others. We questioned whether the father also had a disorder -- he did kill the dog!

Most of us especially liked the part when Christopher went to find his mother. We liked how the story moved at that point and we admired how brave he was to make the journey. We talked about how people reacted to him on his way.

We talked about how all minds work differently and approach problem solving in different ways maybe to even get the same answers ("add 38 + 38"). We talked about how important it is to respect different ways of processing information. We questioned why there is so much more autism disorder now -- vaccines/not, fast paced life style with too much immediate gratification?, video games, environment, genetics.

We digressed to a generalized parenting discussion -- setting limits and boundaries while trying to stay friends with our children? We talked about driving and adolescent brain development. We shared memories from mother’s childhoods of freedom and no cell phones and playing outside with neighborhood friends from morning until dark.

We will meet again on April 10 at Donna and Andi Lynn’s to discuss The Wish List by Eoin Colfer.

Report prepared by Book Club parent Nancy Z.