Is The Curious Incident of a Dog at Night-Time for 12?

[rkelsh]

I need some help working through this.  My daughter's co-op class is going to read The Outsiders, A Separate Peace and The Curious Incident of a Dog at Night-Time.  In pre-reading them, I am concerned about the appropriateness of each of them (in different ways) for a young 7th grade girl.  They all contain violence and mature social situations and themes, and all all about teenaged boys.  The profanity is an issue as well.  It seems to me that they would all be more appropriate to older teens.  

 

Any thoughts?

[marbel]

I read The Outsiders to my kids when my daughter was probably 11 or 12.  She loved the book and still thinks fondly of it.  I remembered it being one of my favorites though I don't remember when I read it, probably in middle school though.

 

Recently I tried to re-read A Separate Peace just to see if I felt my kids should read it.  It was considered a must-read when I was in high school (I graduated in 1974).  I didn't finish it and didn't tell them to read it.  I just seemed very dated and contrived to me.

 

The Curious Incident...I read it but I don't remember enough about it to comment on it's appropriateness.  I do remember language and mature themes.  I didn't find it to be very compelling though I know I am in the minority on that.

[Farrar]

I think of all of them as fine for that age, but profanity doesn't inherently bother me. It can be a tricky time for books - kids need some mature themes at age 12 or so. These are all books that I think can potentially fill that need without going too far. However, it depends on the kid, of course. And on the parents' standards.

 

A Separate Peace is one that I think of as being beyond dated though. It's one of those "classics" that I suspect won't last much longer so I'm surprised to see it pop up on a reading list.

[Lori D.]

I know you don't have control over the booklist of a class being run by someone else, but I totally agree with you. If those are the only 3 books being read in this co-op, I'd pass on it.

 

Other than The Outsiders (which, BTW, several moms on these boards have said their 12yo daughters really *loved*), I would hate to spend that much time (2/3rd of a semester) on books that are an ill-fit and not really worth the focus/time (IMO).

 

The Curious Incident got big ratings when it came out, but I feel like that was due to the novelty of it being written in the first-person voice of a person with autism/aspberger's. Other than the initial interest of a different kind of narrator, once that novelty wears off, the book is a about a half-step above mediocre. JMO!

 

I thought A Separate Peace was incredibly dull, and like both previous posters said, so very very dated. The setting/times and characters are just not something I picture most teens today connecting with -- boys at an ultra-exclusive New England boarding school on the eve of WW2, with a whole lot of not much happening until the protagonist's small mean act near the end of the book that causes a giant permanent injury to the friend, and permanent guilt for the protagonist.

 

 

Are you able to suggest substitutions? These might be more interesting and appropriate "coming of age" books for a middle school group -- and some have female protagonists:

 

- Brown Girl Dreaming (Woodson) -- or -- Inside Out and Back Again (Lai) -- both written in free verse

- A Wrinkle in Time (L'Engle)

- The Penderwicks (Birdsall)

- Walk Two Moons (Creech)

- Esperanza Rising (Ryan)

- The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Kelly)

- Julie of the Wolves (George)

- Coraline (Gaiman)

- The Book Thief (Zusak)

- Wonder (Palacio)

- The Wednesday Wars (Schmidt)

[Bluegoat]

I think I would let most 12 year olds read that, 12 is a common age for starting adult novels, and that is what some kids are ready for.

 

Iam not sure that I actually think it is a great novel, but it might give rise to some interesting discussions.  I think The Outsiders is a really good book, I don't know about the other one.

[Farrar]

I don't have Lori's dislike for Curious Incident, but I agree that there's a reason it's mostly being sort of forgotten after it's initial flush of success.

[Tanaqui]

The Curious Incident got big ratings when it came out, but I feel like that was due to the novelty of it being written in the first-person voice of a person with autism/aspberger's. Other than the initial interest of a different kind of narrator, once that novelty wears off, the book is a about a half-step above mediocre. JMO!

 

An as an autistic individual, that wasn't all that novel even at the time. There were already many memoirs written by autistic authors. I could say something scathing here about the ablism of a book authored by somebody with no connection to autism whatsoever outselling books by people who actually understood the subject - but I'll refrain.

[kiwik]

I was probably about 12 or 13 when I read the outsiders. We liked them but I don't think they had much meaning to/effect on us. Haven't read the others but I find it odd if all the books have male protagonists given there are so many books now with strong female characters.

[Bluegoat]

An as an autistic individual, that wasn't all that novel even at the time. There were already many memoirs written by autistic authors. I could say something scathing here about the ablism of a book authored by somebody with no connection to autism whatsoever outselling books by people who actually understood the subject - but I'll refrain.

 

Novels have a different appeal I think - it seems to be a particular sort of person who reads a lot of memoirs. 

[Lori D.]

I don't have Lori's dislike for Curious Incident, but I agree that there's a reason it's mostly being sort of forgotten after it's initial flush of success.

 

Didn't mean for my comments to sound like dislike of Curious Incident, because it was fine, just… forgettable. ;) What I think of as an "airplane read".

 

I did dislike Separate Peace though. You can quote me on that.  :laugh: But I know I've also seen at least 2 different other WTMers who really liked it, so JMMV. :)

Edited July 30, 2016 by Lori D.