Skellig

I re-read this book recently (after having read the excellent 'The Final Year'). I was reminded why I loved this story - the characters are likeable and believable and the storyline is quite simple but so fantastic. A true classic!

I really enjoyed Skellig. Right from the start you are hooked - who is this creature and where has he come from. Another great book for Year 6, again with mature themes.

Easy read, not extremely engaging nor entertaining

i love it! one of my favorite books ever sad and happy

Highly recommend. Quick read. Some lovely descriptions of Skellig throughout.

This shows that being kind can lead to amazing things and to accept what you have

A really good book and I would love to read it again

I enjoyed this book because it was so good and emotional. My favourite character is mina because she is so bossy. I also like skellig and Michael

This is my second reading of Skellig. I re-read it initially because my daughter was reading it at school and I wanted to support her in her work- long story, not for now. The first time I read it, I hated it. This time, I think I could appreciate it more and became more involved with the characters. I had also just read ‘My Name is Mina’ when I started the re-read, so that also gave me another perspective. I still struggle with the magical, repulsive figure of Skellig himself… I had completely forgotten about the flying dance and the incident in the hospital with Michael’s mother and the baby… At least I wanted to finish it this time, rather than dragging myself through it as I did first time around. 🦉
PS I preferred My Name is Mina…
PPS I also just read, Paper Bird, Paper Boat - what was going on there? It was as though it was written for a completely different, younger audience 🤔🤔🤔

This was a beautiful heartwarming novel. Full of emotion. I couldn't wait to turn the page. Some funny parts, thoughtful parts and at times gripping.
It has also inspired me to do some art around the Skellig character.
I would recommend this book to anyone to read and feel that it will stay with me for a very long time.

This was a beautiful heartwarming novel. Full of emotion. I couldn't wait to turn the page. Some funny parts, thoughtful parts and at times gripping.
It has also inspired me to do some art around the Skellig character.
I would recommend this book to anyone to read and feel that it will stay with me for a very long time.

Thoughts:
This is a unique book about a wild animal. The book author won a book prize for children’s literature called “the Carnegie Medal”. This is a story we read in class and for homework during the Autumn term and I reviewed in discussion with my parents in the school holidays.

Main characters:
The main character is a unique creature that is part-owl (or part bird of prey) and part-angel.

Genre: A fictional book written by David Almond.

Recommended to: Year 6 classes

Used as a whole class reading book. An interesting story but not great sentence structures to model to children.

It was good but then they didn’t say a lot about skellig after they moved him

I have heard Skellig mentioned in the past a number of times and on these occasions the feedback has always been positive. Initially I lacked confidence whether this would be a book I would enjoy but I was happily proven wrong. I really enjoyed the style of writing David Almond used in the story; the
descriptive writing really helped the reader to engage in the story, the detail used for the description of Skellig was intriguing. The structure of the writing gave the story a fast pace to it with the short and quick sentences which in turn-built suspense throughout the story. I enjoyed the perspective of the story being told by Michael as you got a real sense of his emotions throughout the story especially dealing with his baby sister being poorly, family and friend relationships and his discovery of Skellig. The ending I felt worked well as it left the reader with more questions and curiosity, it was interesting to find out there are still questions the author has about the story. Providing a great opening in the classroom to have discussions about the questions they have such as, where did Skellig come from? who is Skellig? what happened to Michael’s baby sister? Did Mina & Michael stay friends?

I have heard Skellig mentioned in the past a number of times and on these occasions the feedback has always been positive. Initially I lacked confidence whether this would be a book I would enjoy but I was happily proven wrong. I really enjoyed the style of writing David Almond used in the story; the descriptive writing really helped the reader to engage in the story, the detail used for the description of Skellig was intriguing. The structure of the writing gave the story a fast pace to it with the short and quick sentences which in turn built suspense throughout the story. I enjoyed the perspective of the story being told by Michael as you got a real sense of his emotions throughout the story especially dealing with his baby sister being poorly, family and friend relationships and his discovery of Skellig. The ending I felt worked well as it left the reader with more questions and curiosity, it was interesting to find out there are still questions the author has about the story. Providing a great opening in the classroom to have discussions about the questions they have such as, where did Skellig come from? who is Skellig? what happened to Michael’s baby sister? Did Mina & Michael stay friends?

I really enjoyed this novel and the friendship between Mina and Michael, and became emotional when the baby had to go back into the hospital. It feels as if there were two stories happening that came together when Skellig visited the baby in the hospital.

Great for reluctant readers. Short, fast paced and exciting.

I love the mysteries in this story and this is what makes it a compelling read.

Strange, sad, intense

Took me a while to get into this one but once I did it was an absolute page turner. I LOVED the budding relationship between Mia and the main character, the way the impact of his little sister's illness is told from a child's perspective and the undercurrent themes of school and formal education versus lifelong learning. A wonderful read. Bawled my eyes out at the end!

My mum recommended this so I thought it would be boring. But it isn't. There is so much mystery that you feel you can't stop reading

Definitely for older children. A little hard going at the start but then I had to keep reading to the end.
Brought tears to my eyes more than once.
Recommended.

A book about a fallen angel discovered in Michael's garage

Beautifully captured relationship between a boy, a girl and a mysterious creature. Brave, bold and unique. I will absolutely recommend this to the students.

This book had too much bad language in it, but the high level vocabulary helped me in my writing.

This book was like amazing, I liked when the baby got better and named her Joy

I really enjoyed this book as it was exciting and each chapter made you want to keep reading.

I really enjoy returning to this book, as the storyline is universal and meaningful to all ages. As a teacher, I particularly value how Almond makes intertextual links to William Blake - an excellent introduction to this poet and artist for younger readers.

I liked the book.