Skellig

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If young adult fiction can give you a new experience of an old classic without being condescending and purely educational, that is a good thing indeed! Is this book going to go supernatural or is there a rational explanation for the stranger in the garage? Guess you will have to read this book to find out!

Something," he said. "Something like you, something like a beast, something like a bird, something like an angel." He laughed. "Something like that.” I also remember how quiet this story is, and how it’s poignant and beautiful and occasionally uncomfortable to read. And I remember that joyous ending. And I also remember how I wished I had friends I could communicate with using an owl call. “Hoot. Hoot hoot hoot.” And I remember Whisper and how much I used to want a cat just like him. His first children's novel, Skellig (1998), set in Newcastle, won the Whitbread Children's Novel of the Year Award and also the Carnegie Medal. His subsequent novels are: Kit's Wilderness (1999), Heaven Eyes (2000), Secret Heart (2001), The Fire Eaters (2003) and Clay (2005). His first play aimed at adolescents, Wild Girl, Wild Boy, toured in 2001 and was published in 2002. I have to say if you asked me last week whether I had read Skellig by David Almond I would have looked at you blankly for a bit and then said “Well, I have a feeling I read it in primary school. No, I definitely did. But I can’t really remember what happens in it.” West, Dave (19 March 2008). "Sky One sets three major HD series". Digital Spy . Retrieved 2 September 2008.I find this point especially interesting because I am a Christian, a woman of faith, who also loves and appreciates science. The cool thing about Christianity and evolution is that both propose a common ancestor, and both propose a link or commonality between and among all living things. Although that common ancestor may appear different, and that link or commonality is different, it doesn't change the fact that there is common ground if we're open to it. I think Almond is open to it through this book. He reveals deeper truths about faith and evolution, about faith and science, that I didn't fully notice the first time I read this book. The tension in the book between evolution and the existence of the supernatural was so forced that I couldn't concentrate on the characters or what they were doing; it felt a bit too much like the wife in the Murder of Gonzago. And I think this was a lost opportunity for Almond. The middle ground between science and the supernatural -- which is where I think most of the people I know personally would situate themselves -- doesn't get enough representation in our pop culture. The fight between the most credulous believers and the unbelievers gets all the play, but those folks somewhere in the middle are a bigger group by far (at least that's my guess) than the ones on the ends of the spectrum, and they are forced to listen to those who don't share their opinions all the time. Yet here, finally, they get a book looking at things from their perspective, but Almond strayed to far from just showing them the middle ground and entered the realm of lecturing on the middle ground. And that bummed me right out. Michael hears a story that human shoulder blades are a vestige of angel wings. Meanwhile, his friends from school become more and more distant as Michael stops attending school and spends less time with them. A strong theme of relationships and the importance of those relationships flow throughout the story. The most notable relationships are those that involve Michael’s relationship with Skellig; his relationship with his younger sister who has a heart condition and his relationship with his friend Mina. There are strong themes within this novel such as family, friendship, education and discovery, all of which offer children the chance to think about how other children live, how the most unlikely of people can become the best of friends and how learning isn’t just something that happens inside the classroom.

When I was little and told to say my prayers (by hypocritical lapsed catholics, by the way) I would start by asking that my family be safe (yeah, that didn't work out so well now, did it?) and then hit the trivial things like asking that Jimmy Watts would notice me or maybe my mom could buy me the new Olivia Newton John album? Ah... to be so oblivious.

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Michael has just moved into a new house. 'House' being used in the loosest of descriptions. The previous owner wasn't so much into home improvement as he was into slowly dying. The yard is a mess of weeds and there is a toilet in the dining room. The garage is a home to broken appliances, rolls of linoleum, planks, boxes, bugs and something else. This book would be better aimed at children through year’s five to six due to the content and complexity of feelings it explores. Word of warning: there are three instances of inappropriate language for primary ages therefore it may be best to either ‘bleep’ them out if you are reading to the child, or find a way to ‘delete’ them from the book. He meets a girl named Mina from across the road and over the course of the story they become close. Mina is home-schooled. Nature, birds, drawing, the poems of William Blake and her relationship with Michael interest her. Often drawing or sculpting at home, she invites Michael to join in. In the meanwhile, Michael's baby sister takes a turn for the worse and his parents are informed that she needs a heart operation if she is to live. His parents are distraught, and Michael realises that he too really cares for and loves his sister. The baby is taken to hospital and Michael imagines her heart beat and his intertwined.