But it has the F word in it —you want us to see a book like that?" they asked, part daring-part disbelieving, as we announced the month's title to pre-teens of a reading club I run.

The book like that was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. Beyond the expletive, of course, they discovered a fine novel about a 15-year-old's mission to investigate the suspicious death of his neighbour's dog. The simply told story raises issues kids long to discuss — Asperger's Syndrome (films like Barfi and My Name is Khan are often their sole brush with this), broken families, acceptance and abandonment.