Changes

'''A Note: Wow. I wrote this review more than a decade ago. Since then, Skellig has been chosen as a ''Times Educational Supplement'' Teachers' Top 100 Book. It's been adapted into a play directed by Trevor Nunn, an opera, and a film starring Tim Roth. It's sold more than 1 million copies. David Almond wrote a prequel, [[My Name Is Mina by David Almond|My Name Is Mina]], which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. And now it's been reissued in a beautiful 15th anniversary edition. Reading back this review, I ''know'' it doesn't do ''Skellig''justice. If you haven't already, you should read it. Whoever you may be.

One evening whilst sneaking food down to the garage he tries to help Skellig to a more comfortable position and discovers that he has wings on his back. What is Skellig? Is he a man? Or an owl? Or an angel? Michael doesn't know but he knows he can no longer help Skellig alone. He can trust only Mina with his secret. Mina is the child of their eccentric new neighbours. She and her mother are rather unconventional and Mina doesn't go to school, she's educated by her mother under the guidance of the writings of William Blake. It's interesting to see that a strictly formal education is questioned in Skellig and rather than found wanting is found incomplete. Older children and adults will see that I think. Mina is fascinated by birds and she's fascinated by the surreal and she's happy to try to help Michael help Skellig. Together they move him to a safer place and continue to take care of him.

While all this is going on And then Michael's having trouble at school. He's falling out with his friends who laugh at him because of his new relationship with Mina - A GIRL. His work is suffering, even his football is suffering. His sister's illness is getting worse. He's starting to argue with his parents. He's starting to worry them so much that they call in the doctor. And all the time he must keep the secret that is Skellig. He can't tell anyone about the nights he's spent with him and Mina in a magical world where they can fly. I shan't tell you what happens to Michael, or whether his baby sister gets better. I shan't tell you what happens to Skellig and who or what he is, or whether he has a part to play in the real world as well as the dream one. But I will quote you one tiny little part just to show you how good it all is. Michael and Mina are waiting for his father to return from the hospital where his baby sister is undergoing an operation on her heartbecomes very ill:

"''I closed my eyes and tried to discover where the happy half of me was hiding. I felt the tears trickling through my tightly closed eyelids. I felt Whisper's claws tugging at my jeans. I wanted to be all alone in an attic like Skellig with just the owls and the moonlight and an oblivious heart. And then Dad's car came, with its blaring engine and its glaring lights, and the fear just increased and increased and increased."''

I think that's perfect writing for children. See the short sentences? Now you have to read it aloud - can you feel the rhythm of the words? THAT'S how you write for children. But also - there is an emotional impact there that will strike children and adults alike. The funny parts are just like that too, just as good. In his author's note David Almond says: "''Writing can be difficult, but sometimes it really does feel like a kind of magic. I think that stories are living things - among the most important things in the world." '' Well, I think he's right but I also think that gives you a better clue to his writing than I ever could. It's modern and his children certainly live in today's world but it's also magic. Skellig feels like an old story, one that's been told for countless generations, one that's a part of an oral tradition, part of folklore, part of all those stories that are older than any of us, it feels like it's one that's been finally written down for the generation of listeners who want to read too. The scenes of Michael and his friends playing football will strike an immediate chord for anyone with sons yet those where Michael and Mina dance in the air with Skellig are mystical, poetic, dreamlike and the magic is made stronger because the story is anchored so firmly in the real world. If you'd like an adult reference then I suppose perhaps Almond is the Gabriel Garcia Marquez of children's literature.