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Jackdaw Summer

On sale

3rd October 2013

Price: £6.99

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Selected: Paperback / ISBN-13: 9780340881996

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Every summer Liam and Max roam the wild countryside of Northumberland – but this year things are different. One hot summer’s day a jackdaw leads the two boys into an ancient farm house where they find a baby, wrapped in a blanket, with a scribbled note pinned to it: PLESE LOOK AFTER HER RITE. THIS IS A CHILDE OF GOD.

And so begins Jackdaw Summer. A summer when friendships are tested. A summer when lines between good and bad are blurred. A summer that Liam will never forget…

A stunning novel from the author of the modern children’s classic Skellig – winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children’s Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award.

Reviews

The Guardian
One of the finest writers of children's novels today. Jackdaw Summer is a wonderful piece of writing for children - unsettling yet poetic. Nobody evokes childhood like Almond.
The Daily Telegraph
This is a novel of power and beauty.
The Sunday Times
Thought-provoking poetic stuff from the author of Skellig.
The Bookbag
'a book of startling quality and tremendous beauty'
Carousel
'Another brilliant novel from a master storyteller.'
Daily Mail
Unsettling but, as ever, beautifully written.
Julia Eccleshare
'... exceptional, delicate writing ... make a moving and thoughtful story told with exceptional elegance.'
Writeaway
'exquisite prose which sparkles off the page'
The Sunday Times
Thought-provoking... poetic. (The Sunday Times' 100 Best Children's Books)
The Observer
A rich and satisfying tale of lives turned around...sharp and snappy as well as thoughtful.
Bookfest
This gripping novel, beautifully crafted, is David Almond writing at the top of his game. Readers will be thinking and talking about it long after they've finished reading.
Books Quarterly
An outstanding novel, truly a challenging and thought-provoking read.
The Bookseller
A vivid and unnerving portrayal of raw adolescent emotion. As ever, Almond's wiritng is lucid and accessible, and the novel's themes of acceptance and tolerance are complex and challenging.
Carousel
Another brilliant novel from a master storyteller.
The Sunday Times
This evocative, intelligent and moving novel amounts to an essay about the potential savagery in human nature. Simultaneously poetic and down-to-earth.
The Independent
Almond is a master storyteller. there is more than enough in this brooding story to keep readers engrossed right up to its near-cataclysmic ending.
Daily Mail
Unsettling but, as ever, beautifully written.
The Sunday Times
Almond's writing is like the perfect outfit - it may look casual, but everything fits just right.
School Librarian
This gripping new novel by Almond cleverly explores themes of loyalty, savagery, friendship and goodness in an accessible and contemporary way. An expertly written novel that is intensely moving.
The Herald
Nobody since William Golding captures so perfectly the savage intensity that underlies the joshing of young teenage males.