Skellig: Book summary and reviews of Skellig by David Almond

Skellig Summary

Young readers will by enchanted by this magical tale of friendship and family:

Michael was looking forward to his new house and neighborhood, until his infant sister became very ill. Now his parents are constantly frantic, the scary doctor is always coming around, and Michael feels helpless. When he goes out into the old rickety garage, he comes across a mysterious being living beneath spider webs and eating flies for dinner. This creature calls himself Skellig, and over the weeks Michael and his new friend Mina bring Skellig out in to the light, and their worlds change forever.

A Whitbread Children's Book Award Winner.

Skellig Reviews

"Starred Review. British novelist Almond makes a triumphant debut in the field of children's literature with prose that is at once eerie, magical and poignant. Ages 8-12." - Publishers Weekly.

"Starred Review. The beauty here is that there is no answer and readers will be left to wonder and debate, and make up their own minds. A lovingly done, thought-provoking novel. Grades 5-9. " - School Library Journal.

"...it goes beyond adventure story or family-with-a-problem story to become a story about worlds enlarging and the hope of scattering death." - The New York Times.

"Starred Review. As in Berlie Doherty's Snake-Stone (1996) or many of Janet Taylor Lisle's novels, the marvelous and the everyday mix in haunting, memorable ways. Ages 11-13" - Kirkus Reviews.

"Starred Review. Some of the writing takes one's breath away, especially the scenes in which Almond, without flinching, describes the beauty and the horror that is Skellig." - Booklist

The information about Skellig shown above was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's online-magazine that keeps our members abreast of notable and high-profile books publishing in the coming weeks. In most cases, the reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author of this book and feel that the reviews shown do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, please send us a message with the mainstream media reviews that you would like to see added.

Skellig Reader Reviews

Click here and be the first to review this book!

David Almond Author Biography

David Almond, in his own words:

I was born in Newcastle and I grew up in a big Catholic family in Felling-on-Tyne. I had four sisters and a brother and lots of relatives in the streets nearby. My dad had been in Burma during the war. He and my mum married in the late 40s. Dad became an office manager in an engineering factory. Mum was a shorthand typist until she had the children. We moved several times when I was a child, but always within Felling.

Felling had been a coal mining town, but by the time I remember anything the pits were all closed. The river at the foot of the town was lined with warehouses and shipyards. At the summit was a wild area we called the Heather Hills. I loved playing football in the fields above the town, camping out...

Name Pronunciation
David Almond: To quote the author, his name is pronounced "just like the nut"

... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to David Almond's Website

Other books by David Almond at BookBrowse

more...