Hodder Literature: Skellig: The Play - Softcover

Moore, Jean; Catron, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340905557 ISBN 13: 9780340905555

Publisher: Hodder Education, 2005

Synopsis

Hodder Literature: a new and exciting series of literature titles for Key Stage 3 for whole class use.
Dramatisation of David Almond's novel, Skellig.
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 - Skellig. 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 forever.

About this title

Review:

Michael can feel his sick baby sister's heart beating inside him, and as long as he can feel it he knows she is alive. But as her condition becomes life-threatening and the family faces the nightmare of an operation to save her life, Michael turns to his new friend Mina and the strange being, Skellig, who has been living beneath the crumbling garage at the family's new home.

In this most delicate and tender story of a young boy living in fear of death and coming to terms with life, you can almost touch the indefinable magic that Skellig--part owl, part human, part everything and nothing--brings to Michael's unsettled world.

With the gentle touch of an angel's breath, Almond, in his first novel for children, lets his characters think, feel and believe without overwhelming sentimentality. A dream of a book to touch even the hardest of hearts. --Susan Harrison

Review:

Skellig is the winner of the 1998 British Whitbread Award for Children's Literature. Praise for Skellig: "The author adroitly interconnects the threads of the story...to Skellig, whose history and reason for being are open to readers' interpretations.... [T]he story brightens dramatically as Michael's loving, life-affirming spirit begins to work miracles."--Publishers Weekly, starred review "The plot pivots on the question of what Skellig is....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."--School Library Journal, starred review "The marvelous and the everyday mix in haunting, memorable ways."--Kirkus Reviews, pointer "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, starred review "I read this luminous novel with a sense of wonder, and it's left an imprint on my mind--and, yes, my heart--that will not easily, if ever, fade. In fact, I think Skellig deserves that risky adjective--unforgettable."--Robert Cormier, author

About this edition

• Publisher: Hodder Education
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0340905557
• ISBN 13: 9780340905555
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128