Customer Reviews

The Bookclub-in-a-Box Discussion Guide to the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, the novel by Mark Haddon

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When I suggested "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" as the required summer reading for my campus's new freshmen, I unwittingly committed myself to teaching the group discussion leaders how to review the book. I had lots of ideas, thankfully, but when I discovered the Bookclub-in-a-Box available for Mark Haddon's outstanding novel, I was (appropriately) curious. I'm happy to say that the Box--really a detailed, annotated, fully-referenced booklet--enriches and enhances any review of the fictional Christopher Boone's story. "Box" author Marilyn Herbert cites sources and page numbers for most observations, allowing Christopher to speak for himself. This is not an erudite deconstruction or a Cliff's Notes; on the contrary, the "Box" pulls out passages and sentences I would otherwise have overlooked, and lures me back to get even more out of the original prose. The plot is reviewed, not merely summarized, and every character is offered for exploration as well. I found the Box rich in insights and ideas for my own projects and questions. In short, the Box helped me to do exactly what it promised: to launch a discussion, with myself and then with others who had read the book, with the result that we enjoyed it even more, understood it without picking it apart. The booklet's content is thoughtfully composed, leaving me to wonder at some odd misspellings and typographical errors. And I admit I was disappointed when I ordered a "Box" and a thin (if rich) booklet arrived instead. Perhaps I had expected props and toys, the promise of the term "box," which here really means not a tool kit but a complete package. It's a very good package and I'll look forward to seeing other Boxes in the Herbert's series.