First reading journal "the curious Incident of the dog in the Nightlife" by Sinisa

EMPATHY: Say in what ways you wish a character would change/develop or what you would like to happen in the life of some character. It’s clear that Christopher’s father loves Christopher, because he said it in the book. But the father should do more with Christopher. They should go more often to the Zoo or somewhere else. I think it would be good for Christopher too. I understand the father because he is a single parent, but he decided to do it. I wish he will pay more attention to him after work and they can maybe play football together. It’s clear that Christopher is shy, because his father never played with him. I know Christopher would say he doesn’t want to play football, but his father has to motivate him. The father has to change his attitudes, when he wants that Christopher becomes a normal human. The father should give Christopher a hug. Yes, Christopher doesn’t like it but it’s because he never felt something like this. 

REFLECTION: Write an advertisement aimed at a particular audience for the book you are reading. Ladies and Gentleman’s, This is it. And it’s not Michael Jackson. It’s a book for you… Yes, FOR YOU! The curious incident of the dog in the night life is a story for every age group. You always wanted to be a detective? With this book your dream will come truth. You will be a young guy which wants to find out who killed a dog. The young boy has a strange personality. But I won't tell you anything, because you have to read it. Start today and you will fall in love today. So get up and go to the next library. Order your book and you will receive a detective discount from 10 %. Just use the code 11558. You will see. This book will make your next days more interesting. Have fun and see you on the other side Detective!

REFLECTION: Write about what you are learning personally as a result of reading this text. To read an English book helped me a lot to improve my vocabulary. I didn’t think that I would understand so much, but now I realize how good the book club meetings were. In the meetings we could discuss about every part we didn't understand, and we fixed most of the problems. And no it’s not a reflection about the book club now haha. 😊 I just want to say that I like this kind of learning, because I think to learn a language it’s very important to read and speak a lot. Maybe this is the problem for a lot of students because they learn all the grammar for an exam and after the exam they forget it again in two days. And this was the difference I think, because we learned English for a long period. I would do this kind of work again, but I would choose another book.

ANALYSIS: Write about something in terms of those qualities that professional writers look for in real life: conflict, contrast, contradiction, and characterization. I think the author wants to give us a message how a situation in a family can influence the personality of a child. I wrote about Christopher’s personality in other blogs. So, Christopher’s life was very difficult. He had a mother and he really needed her but after her supposedly dead he was alone. The conflict between his father and his mother burdened him mentally. In the real life it’s like this too. I think children which don’t have both parents are physically and mentally more often disadvantaged than children whose parents live together peacefully. Although Christopher does not personally say that he is in bad shape, his behaviour shows how sad and desperate he is. In my opinion the parents have failed in the education of their son. I think Christopher is a very heartful person, because he was sad when he saw t...

RECOUNT: List the 10 most important things about the text you are reading 1. Someone killed a dog and a boy called Christopher wanted to know who and then he started to do detective work. 2. The dead dog is from Mrs Shears. 3. Christopher is a shy child and he lives in his own world. He is very good in maths. 4. Christopher doesn’t like yellow and brown, and when he sees three cars with these colours in a row, it will be a bad day. 5. Everybody thinks that Christopher’s mother is dead, but she isn’t. 6. She always writs letters to Christopher but Christopher’s father didn’t give them to Christopher. 7. Christopher’s father doesn’t like the detective work from his son. He doesn’t want that Christopher puts his nose in another people’s business. 8. Christopher doesn’t listen to his father and he contuses his work. 9. He talks to Mrs Alexander an old lady in his neighbourhood. 10. Mrs Alexander likes to speak with Christopher.

CHARACTERIZATION: Write a short letter to the author/playwright or to one of the characters. Tell them what is in on your mind. Dear Christopher, I heard a lot from you. (ha-ha read a lot) I want to tell you, that I understand you, but you must change your life.  Change your whole personality from this moment, because all negative things are just in your mind. Start with the colours you don’t like. Don’t think about them anymore because yellow and brown are normal colours. Thoughts like these make your life more difficult.  You should go out and met some friends and start to live your new life. Our world is so beautiful and there are a lot of things to see. You are young, and your time is now. Hopefully you can tell a lot of stories to your children one day. It’s okay to be different but stay positive. See you brother! Sini

EMPHATY: Write down 5 questions you would like to ask a character. Say why you would like to ask these questions. If I would have a conversation with Christopher’s mother I would ask her the following questions: •           How could you leave your son? •           Why didn’t you tell him the truth? •           Do you think Christopher is so reserved because of you? •           Can you ever forgive yourself that all people thought you are death? •           Did you really miss him or why did you write these letters? I would like to ask her these questions because I don’t understand how a mother can leave her own son. Doesn't matter which conflicts parents have in their relationship, children shouldn't suffer because of t...

PREDICTION: At any point in the story predict how some character is going to change/develop (character development) as the story progresses. How will they change. The mother was a part of the story all the time but as a person who died. The whole story changed at the point where Christopher found the letters from his mom. Christopher's mom wrote a lot of letters for him and everyone in the story thought that she is death. But now she isn't just an illusion anymore. I want to know the reason how she could have left her family. Was it love or overburdening? I think she wants to stay in touch with Christopher but the father doesn't want it because he is disappointed about the whole situation. I hope they will find a solution together because a mother is very important for a child. I think Christopher is very cowed because of this but I think his mother repents her decision. 

ANALYSIS: Write about the style of writing the author uses. The author writes very understandable for our English skills. Until further notice, I understood every chapter and there are few foreign words. I think it's a pity that a chapter never comes to an end as I mentioned in another journal. All topics suddenly stops and goes on later in the story. Although this kind of writing doesn't make problems to understand the story but it isn't funny to read something like this because I like things which are coming to an end. The story is exciting and I'm interested how it goes on but I would change the whole style of writing, if I could. I wouldn’t have chosen this book if I knew it was written that way. I think the book would be more popular if the author would rewrite it. In any case I understand the story and this is most important thing.

Characterization: Describe a character from the book (e.g. physical characteristics, personality, likes dislikes). Say why you like / dislike the character. In the following text I will describe Mrs Alexander. She is a heartful person and very friendly. At the first time in the story when Christopher met her she wanted to give him a cake. While the conversation she said that she sees him going to school every day and she wanted to know everything about him. I like her, but she is a very curious. She was disappointed when Christopher had been away when she came out with the cake. I liked it very much when they saw each other again in the shop. She told him that she had to eat the cake by herself and I think she was sad about it. Christopher’s reaction wasn’t respectful and young people have to respect older people. Mrs Alexander is very sympathetic, but I wouldn’t tell her everything because I think she likes small talks. Maybe it wouldn’t be with bad intentions, but it is poss...