Skellig

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

"Almond makes a triumphant debut in the field of children's literature with prose that is at once eerie, magical, and poignant."--"Publishers Weekly," Starred
"A powerful, atmospheric story . . . the marvelous and everyday mix in haunting, memorable ways."--"Kirkus Reviews," Pointer
"A lovingly done, thought-provoking novel."--"School Library Journal," Starred
"Its strength as a novel is in its subtlety. . . . Skellig is a fine book."
--"The New York Times Book Review"
"Some of the writing takes one's breath away."--"Booklist," Starred

" Almond makes a triumphant debut in the field of children's literature with prose that is at once eerie, magical, and poignant." --"Publishers Weekly," Starred
" A powerful, atmospheric story . . . the marvelous and everyday mix in haunting, memorable ways." --"Kirkus Reviews," Pointer
" A lovingly done, thought-provoking novel." --"School Library Journal," Starred
" Its strength as a novel is in its subtlety. . . . Skellig is a fine book."
--"The New York Times Book Review"
" Some of the writing takes one's breath away." --"Booklist," Starred