David ALMOND, Skellig (2009 Hodder)

By Alejandro Villar Pardo, 2º ESO A

Skellig starts with Michael’s family moving to Falconer Road. The house is a mess and needs lots of work done on it, the garage is a whole other story; it’s dusty, there are cobwebs, flies and an angel inside. All of this is shadowed by the premature birth of Michael’s sister. She has a heart problem and her fate is one with Skellig’s. Michaels’s mum only has a minor change at the end. At the beginning all she’d do is sit by the new born waiting for it to get better, completely neglecting Michael. When at the end Joy, the baby, got better, Michael’s mum realised she’d been neglecting him.

Skellig is a weak angel in Michael’s garage, his only hope of survival is that Michael gets enough 27 and 53 from the Chinese takeout. The more energetic and cured he felt the nicer and more talkative he became. His purpose in this book seemed to be to cure Joy and bring Michael and Mina closer together.

My favourite scene is when Skellig is fully recovered and is about to leave and they formed a circle and held each other’s hands, they began to rise and spin, they felt free and happy. That experience, as wonderful as it was, was short. They let go and had a heart-warming talk. Skellig flew into the night sky leaving only his memories as evidence of him being there. I like this scene because it’s a calm, descriptive scene that just doesn’t want to end. It symbolises a new chapter in the life of Michael.

This book has been recommended before (see May posts, 2010)