Surprised by Skellig

Skellig by David Almond
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Despite being initially written for younger audiences Skellig, by David Almond, was fascinating. It could easily become, no it has become, one of those books that any person can pick up and still enjoy no matter their age.



My mother (who is an English teacher) recommended it to me a year or two ago, when I was still living in her house but life got in the way and unfortunately it took me until now to actually pick it up and read it. I was visiting home for the summer and it was sitting on our bookshelf waiting to be read so, having nothing better to do I decided it was time to listen to my mother’s recommendation and read the damn book. I hadn’t heard anything about the novel besides my mum’s praise and I knew it was middle-school fiction so I wasn’t expecting much to begin with. However, when I began reading the novel I was pleasantly surprised. Almond’s storyline has the potential to be this great epically long novel and there was a part of me that wished it had been written in a lengthier format but at the same time I’m glad he wrote it so short and sweet. It’s the kind of book that I can read to my youngest sister and she would enjoy it but I could also lend it to one of my college party-crazed peers and they would enjoy it just as much, if not more.

Skellig is the inspirational tale of a young boy who finds hope again in the least suspecting place. “Can love help a person to get better?” is one the many underlying themes that really distinguishes the novel from the typical children’s book. Even though Skellig is written for a younger age bracket brace yourselves for sincerely serious subjects. Almond writes about love, pain and death but he does it in such a way that makes the difficult themes comprehensible for the young age of his target audience.



Overall, I liked it. It was refreshing to read a middle school novel that wasn’t some paranormal romance but I probably won't read the rest of the series. I'm afraid that will ruin it for me. Skellig should be a stand alone novel. Adding/reading sequels would just kill the innovativeness of this first novel.



A must-read for any middle-schooler. Or anyone for that matter.

David Almond

Skellig
London: Hodder Children’s Books, 1998
176pp. $6.29 (Amazon Paperback)
ISBN 9780340944950

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