very emotional
I wept all the weeps. quick and gorgeous. ( )

Oh my goodness, I did NOT see this one coming! This is Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night for Primary and lower middle school students with the main character as a girl. Fantastic, moving book that is extremely accurate. (As the mother of an Asperger's child, the outbursts and observations are spot on!) This is the story of Rose in Grade 5 who's ASD causes her to be obsessed with homophones ( sound the same but spelled differently) and to yell out prime numbers when she is stressed. Rose lives with her father only ( after her mother supposedly left) and is best mates with her charming Uncle Weldon ; who displays patience and humours Rose's obsessions as opposed to her father who can barely tolerate her.
Rose has a wonderful dog called Rain that her father found outside the local pub. When a hurricane hits town, Rose and her father are cut off by rising flood water and unfortunately, after Rain answers the call of nature, she disappears into the storm. Poor Rose, who cannot cope with any change or rule breaking, is beside herself after Rain's disappearance and so sets out to look for her lost dog methodically calling every animal shelter and dragging her Uncle to drive her all over the district.
SPOILER ALERT : Then the good news - Rain is found but she is micro-chipped and belongs to another family who lost her nearly 2 years ago! Rose is driven to do the "right" thing but is heartbroken when the family finally collect their dog! This book made me weep! Martin has captured the black and white world of the Aspie so well, and I could see my son's primary school years - the rolling of the eyes between teacher and aide, the isolation and lack of friendship and understanding - laid bare. Well done to the Babysitters Club author for capturing the literal and the lonely world of the autistic/Asperger child. ( )