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Skellig

CILIP Carnegie Medal, 1998

Paperback / ISBN-13: 9780340997048

Price: £7.99

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When a move to a new house coincides with his baby sister’s illness, Michael’s world seems suddenly lonely and uncertain.

Then, one Sunday afternoon, he stumbles into the old, ramshackle garage of his new home, and finds something magical. A strange creature – part owl, part angel, a being who needs Michael’s help if he is to survive. With his new friend Mina, Michael nourishes Skellig back to health, while his baby sister languishes in the hospital.

But Skellig is far more than he at first appears, and as he helps Michael breathe life into his tiny sister, Michael’s world changes forever . . .

Skellig won the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children’s Book Award and is now a major Sky1 feature film, starring Tim Roth and John Simm. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award.

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Reviews

the most lyrical children's author now writing
The Guardian
Powerful and moving
Guardian.co.uk
'His characters are proper, complex portraits of children that don't succumb to the gender clichés prevalent in children's fiction.'
The Irish Times
. . . gripping, beautiful and brilliantly written . . . Everyone is raving about this unforgettable book.
The Sunday Times
A beautiful story which will enchant young and old alike
Western Morning News
One of those books that you can't put down
Junior Reviewer Conor Neison, aged 12, Evening Echo (Cork)
A bookshelf essential.
The Guardian
This modern classic has been reissued in a beautiful 15th anniversary edition
Lorna Bradbury, The Sunday Telegraph
Voted Carnegie Medal's Number one Top Book of the past 70 years
The Times
An exquisitely crafted book with a mystical core
The Daily Telegraph
'it's a wonderfully original and beautifully written story and, oddest of all for a children's book, it manages to address the unlikely theme of spirituality with beguiling delicacy.'
The Irish Times
A story full of heart and magic and big confusing emotions, elegantly told by a master craftsman. A perfect piece of art
Lucy Christopher, Big Issue (london)
'A deep and lovely book'
The Times
I can't eat a chinese takeaway without thinking about this strange and beautiful book about an angel who seems to have lost his way.
Gill Harvey, The Big Issue
A modern classic Listed as on the of the 100 Best Children's Books Ever (Novels)
The Daily Telegraph
'Tremendously innovative, highly original and very moving.'
Melvin Burgess
'A bookshelf essential.'
The Guardian
'Truly original, mysterious and affecting . . . Almond treads with delicate certainty, and the result is something genuine and true'
Philip Pullman, The Guardian
The book I wish I'd written is Skellig by David Almond. Almond's book has a great sense of the mysterious; we are left with a sense of wonder. I wish that I had written it!
Joseph Delaney, Books For Keeps
An exquisite book
The Sunday Telegraph
A stunning debut . . . An extraordinary book.
The Sunday Telegraph
Hard to put down
Liz Lightfoot, The Daily Telegraph
Refusing to read this book on the grounds that you are not a child makes as much sense as refusing to read crime fiction because you are not a criminal. A deep and lovely book.
Nick Hornby, The Times
Deservedly popular
The Observer
A visionary story...a lyrical, magical kind of book which can be read on many different levels
The Daily Mail
Touched with a visionary intensity, this strange, hugely readable and life-affirming tale exercises every muscle of the imagination.
The Guardian
Lyrical, innovative and unforgettably moving.
Sunday Express (Cressida Cowell)
Lyrical, innovative and moving...unforgettably moving
Cressida Cowell, Sunday Express
Touched with a visionary intensity, this strange, hugely readable and life-affirming tale exercises every muscle of the imagination
The Guardian
A beautifully told modern fairytale.
Observer
The sort of children's book that makes adults find excuses to read more of them
Times Educational Supplement
Brings Magical Realism to working-class Northeast England
i (The Independent)
Humorous, heart-stopping and haunting...an emotional roller-coaster of a read with a cliff-hanger of a conclusion. Inspired and inspiring.
Newcastle Journal