“I grew up in a big extended Catholic family [in the north of
England]. I listened to the stories and songs at family parties. I
listened to the gossip that filled Dragone’s coffee shop. I ran
with my friends through the open spaces and the narrow lanes. We
scared each other with ghost stories told in fragile tents on dark
nights. We promised never-ending friendship and whispered of the
amazing journeys we’d take together.
“I sat with my grandfather in his allotment, held tiny Easter
chicks in my hands while he smoked his pipe and the factory sirens
wailed and larks yelled high above. I trembled at the images
presented to us in church, at the awful threats and glorious
promises made by black-clad priests with Irish voices. I scribbled
stories and stitched them into little books. I disliked school and
loved the library, a little square building in which I dreamed that
books with my name on them would stand one day on the shelves.
“Skellig, my first children’s novel, came out of the blue, as if it
had been waiting a long time to be told. It seemed to write itself.
It took six months, was rapidly taken by Hodder Children’s Books
and has changed my life. By the time Skellig came out, I’d written
my next children’s novel, Kit’s Wilderness. These books are
suffused with the landscape and spirit of my own childhood. By
looking back into the past, by re-imagining it and blending it with
what I see around me now, I found a way to move forward and to
become something that I am intensely happy to be: a writer for
children.”
David Almond is the winner of the 2001 Michael L. Printz Award for
Kit’s Wilderness, which has also been named best book of the year
by School Library Journal, Booklist, and Publishers Weekly. He has
been called "the foremost practitioner in children's literature of
magical realism." (Booklist) His first book for young readers,
Skellig, is a Printz Honor winner. David Almond lives with his
family in Newcastle, England.
"Almond makes a triumphant debut in the field of children's
literature with prose that is at once eerie, magical, and
poignant."--Publishers Weekly, Starred
"A powerful, atmospheric story . . . the marvelous and everyday mix
in haunting, memorable ways."--Kirkus Reviews, Pointer
"A lovingly done, thought-provoking novel."--School Library
Journal, Starred
"Its strength as a novel is in its subtlety. . . . Skellig is a
fine book."
--The New York Times Book Review
"Some of the writing takes one's breath away."--Booklist, Starred
"Almond makes a triumphant debut in the field of children's
literature with prose that is at once eerie, magical, and
poignant."--Publishers Weekly, Starred
"A powerful, atmospheric story . . . the marvelous and everyday mix
in haunting, memorable ways."--Kirkus Reviews, Pointer
"A lovingly done, thought-provoking novel."--School Library
Journal, Starred
"Its strength as a novel is in its subtlety. . . . Skellig is a
fine book."
--The New York Times Book Review
"Some of the writing takes one's breath away."--Booklist,
Starred
Gr 5-9-Two lonely children form a bond when they secretly take on the care of a crusty, otherworldly old man living in a ramshackled garage. A mystical story of love and friendship. (Feb.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Gr 4-9-Michael was looking forward to moving into a new house. But now his baby sister's ill, his parents are frantic, and Dr. Death has come to call. What is the strange thing beneath the spiderwebs and dead flies in the crumbling garage? The only person Michael can confide in is his new friend Mina. Together they carry the creature out into the light, and Michael's world changes forever. By David Almond. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
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