Hi novel readers!

In this blog we can discuss the form and content of Mark Haddon's novel from 2003. Hopefully, we will have many creative an interesting discussions on our way towards a better understanding of the book.

Your personal opinions are very welcome here, but remember to be relevant and argue your points in an adult and proper manner. As a rule I (JT) will post questions and statements for you to answer and reflect upon, but you may also start your own discussions. If you do, remember to be relevant and serious.

Good luck!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Topic 11: The ending of the novel

We eventually get to know Christopher's mother. Where is your sympathy in the conflict between the two parents? Why? (Don't forget to vote in the poll as well)

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Topic 10: Plot and theme

Post the plot and theme summaries that you just wrote in class. Leave out any names, so that others can guess which story it is..

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Topic 9: What should literature be?

You can always dismiss fiction as being less than real life, and the question of realism is a heavily debated topic in literary analysis. Should literature strive to immitate relaity, or is this too simple. Is perhaps the escape from reality the main pointof a made up universe and an imagined story? Reflect on this and try to bring "The Curious Incident" into your discussion.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Topic 8: Lists

Christopher loves lists. Make your personal top five list of some sort. Remember to briefly state why you chose this particular list. Top five could also be in a negative sense.

Topic 7 Questions for your mates:



Try to come up with good questions about the book for others to answer. Write them down as a comment here for others to reply to. This can not be yes/no questions, but should open up for individual interpretation. 

Topic 6 Plot



The actions and events in the novel are often referred to as the story. First this happens, and then that happens, and so on chronologically. But the author often decides to tell the story bit by bit, and not always in a chronological way. A novel may even start right at the end of the story. We call this the plot of a novel. When we discuss the plot we also look closely at why things happen, how one thing leads to another.

Write a short summary of the plot in the last three chapters you read. If you finished the novel already, choose three chapters which do not spoil the outcome of the novel and the murder mystery.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Topic 5 Father and son

Christopher lives with his father, and throughout the novel there are several incidents where conflict arises between them, but also where love is directly or indirectly shown. Bring up an example from the text an comment on it. Try also to give a response to someone else.

Make a glog!

One of the aims from the English curriculim this year is to compose multimodal texts.

What are multimodal texts? 
A multimodal text communicates not only through written language, but also through other elements such as music/sound, image/illustration, composition/layout, colour and motion/video. A picture book (paper), a web-page (digital), a magazine (paper) and a theatre performance (live) are all examples of such multimodal texts.

The key is to consider what you want to communicate and how, and to make sure that all the elements of the text constitute a "whole".


What is a Glog?
A glog is, simply explained, a digital multimodal poster. On the designated space of the poster you can write and organize text boxes, upload and arrange images, videos and music to communicate a message. To be able to do this you must first register so that you have your own glog account.

The task
Now you have probably read a good chunk of the novel. Choose an incident, a chapter, a phenomenon or a character that you find interesting. This will be your starting point for making a glog about it on www.glogster.com.

You must use at least three types of modes on your glog to present your chosen character/theme/incident. Consider carefully what aspects you want to focus on, and how they can be well communicated through different modes and the layout.

At the end of this lesson, post the link to your glog as a comment to this post. Your glog does not need to be finished yet, you can keep working on it later. Your glog will be part of the assessment of this period together with the writing session we will have later (date to come soon).

It's a good idea to start by looking at http://www.glogster.com explore to get ideas for your own glog and to get an understanding of what a glog can be.

Good luck !

Topic 4

Christopher is very perceptive to details, but these are not necessarily details that we normally think of as important. Sitting in this classroom now, write a comment where you describe what you see. Try to be Christopher for a few minutes. We will write this together and I will tell you when to stop.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Topic 3

Search for information about the genre "mystery novel" and write down a brief defenition from what you find. Then briefly say how the start of our novel fits in with this. Also, give your impression of the novel so far. Does anything strike you as odd or puzzling?

Topic 2

In chapter 47, Christopher explains the system he uses to determine wheter a day is a Good Day, a Quite Good Day, a Super Good Day or a Black Day. Which criteria do you have for determening if a day is Good or Bad? Perhaps you have your own "name" for a type of day?