Skellig

click here for more details, find new or used items	David Almond Our price £4.49 (£5.99) New from £1.82 Used from £2.00 Pages: 176 (Paperback) ISBN: 0340944951 Pub: Hodder Children's Books Pub date: 2007-04-19 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 3920

Reader Reviews:

utterly pointless (0/0 people found this helpful)

This is just about the worst book I have ever read. The characters to me were about as lifless as rag dolls, The story line is about the most feeble out of any book I have ever read and over all I think it was very badly written and not worth purchasing.

Skellig,an excellent read (1/1 people found this helpful)

I read this book to my class of Year 5 children and they thouroughly enjoyed it.The story has lots of themes and patterns within it,some rather sad, which provided some excellent points for discussion. After listening to the story, the children produced some amazing written work.
As a class, we would recommend this book to people of any age over 9.

Okay but not really worth reading (1/3 people found this helpful)

By Alex aged 10


Skellig is a story with a very sombre mood, but as we progress Almond shows us the possibility of the relief of pain through human kindness.
Michael is a well thought out character. He has layers of personality that we do not comprehend at the start of the book. At the beginning he seems to be full of despair and sadness, but, as the book moves on, he opens himself up to the possibility of things he had never imagined possible. Mina is a very interesting character, particularly as she is home educated. Mina proves to be a very good friend to Michael and acts as a sounding board for him. She even helps him find a place for Skellig to stay.

For me Skellig was not a page turner. Despite it being written in the first person, I didn't find myself drawn into the story enough to want know what was going to happen. I did actually finish it and I could see the author's aim, but it just wasn't for me.

Beautiful (6/9 people found this helpful)

This book is mind blowing. Slight though it is, and for children though it is supposed to be, it is one of the books I would insist is on every adult bookshelf, because if you haven't read it, you haven't lived.
The story revolves around a teenage boy whose parents have just had a baby. The baby is premature and seriously ill. The parents spend all their time at the hospital leaving the boy to pretty much fend for himself.
The story is told by him, about his feelings about what is happening to him. He meets a girl whose mother home schools her and whose outlook on life is very different to that of his friends who just want to play football and mess around. The friendship is a lifeline at a time where he needs a way to understand the world around him.
In the middle of all of this, they make a startling discovery. an angel is living in the boy's garage, but like no angel you will ever imagine...
This sounds fantastic, but Almond's down to earth narrative, seen through the eyes of an ordinary boy roots this book in a reality which makes the miraculous so believable. The sparseness of the prose allows the beauty of the book to bloom and find a place in your heart. It is profoundly moving and at the end of the book I found that I was crying like a baby.
Amazingly powerful.

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