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Skellig

On sale

5th September 2013

Price: £7.99

CILIP Carnegie Medal, 1998

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Selected: Paperback / ISBN-13: 9780340944950
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The bestselling story about love, loss and hope that launched David Almond as one of the best children’s writers of today. Winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread children’s book of the Year Award.

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 for ever . . .

Skellig won the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children’s Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award.

Powerful and moving – The Guardian

This newly jacketed edition celebrates 20 years of this multi-award-winning novel.

Reviews

The Guardian
A bookshelf essential.
The Guardian
Touched with a visionary intensity, this strange, hugely readable and life-affirming tale exercises every muscle of the imagination
Times Educational Supplement
The sort of children's book that makes adults find excuses to read more of them
Joseph Delaney, Books For Keeps
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!
Western Morning News
A beautiful story which will enchant young and old alike
The Daily Telegraph
An exquisitely crafted book with a mystical core
Lorna Bradbury, The Sunday Telegraph
This modern classic has been reissued in a beautiful 15th anniversary edition
The Times
Voted Carnegie Medal's Number one Top Book of the past 70 years
Junior Reviewer Conor Neison, aged 12, Evening Echo (Cork)
One of those books that you can't put down
The Observer
Deservedly popular
Lucy Christopher, Big Issue (london)
A story full of heart and magic and big confusing emotions, elegantly told by a master craftsman. A perfect piece of art
Guardian.co.uk
Powerful and moving
The Daily Telegraph
A modern classic Listed as on the of the 100 Best Children's Books Ever (Novels)
The Sunday Telegraph
An exquisite book
Cressida Cowell, Sunday Express
Lyrical, innovative and moving...unforgettably moving
Newcastle Journal
Humorous, heart-stopping and haunting...an emotional roller-coaster of a read with a cliff-hanger of a conclusion. Inspired and inspiring.
i (The Independent)
Brings Magical Realism to working-class Northeast England
Liz Lightfoot, The Daily Telegraph
Hard to put down
The Guardian
Powerful and moving.
Nick Hornby, The Times
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.
Sunday Express (Cressida Cowell)
Lyrical, innovative and unforgettably moving.
Gill Harvey, The Big Issue
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.
The Daily Mail
A visionary story...a lyrical, magical kind of book which can be read on many different levels