Skellig

Rating:
Summary: A moving book for young adults
Review: Skellig is about a boy, his family and the people who help him grow. Michael, an athletic boy (especially in football, or soccer in the U.S.), moves to a new house with his parents. Soon after the move his mother gives birth to a premature baby who has many problems. While cleaning the house and property, preparing for the baby's home coming, Michael stumbles upon something in the garage. He finds Skellig, a man who has been staying in there since before the previous owner of the house died. Michael starts bringing him things like Chinese food and aspirin, and chats with him. Michael soon meets Mina, a very clever girl, and takes her to see Skellig. They take Skellig to an abandoned house where he gains strength and shows them that he has wings. They join hands in a circle and float around the room and transparent wings form on their backs. While the adventure with Skellig is going on, Michaels gets worse. The doctors want to operate on her and the night before surgery, Skellig goes to her and somehow gives her the strength to make it through. Later, Skellig says good-bye to Michael and Mina and heads out to find others in need of an angel.
I very much enjoyed reading this book. Usually when I read a book, I pick a stopping point but the only good point for this book was the end. I could tell that the story takes place somewhere in Europe, primarily Great Britain or England, because of the dialogue Almond uses. It is set sometime in the present or near past because the technology is about the same because they do heart surgery on an infant and they order Chinese food in Europe. The characters seem real but only Skellig's personality, intellect, and weakness seems real. The fact that he has wing is entertaining but it just isn't realistic. His bitterness toward everything is evidence of his pain and because he has wings, he doesn't want to be seen by anyone for fear of being discovered. Mina is a kind-hearted person who, probably because of being home schooled, is very intelligent. She knows every thing about birds and the fact that Skellig has wings is no coincidence made by Almond. Michael's parents seem to pour all their love and attention into the sick baby but also find time to spend with him. Their fear and fear for the baby is covered by their courage and will to not give up hope. Michael seems to care a little too much for Skellig. If he were a normal kid, he probably would have told his parents about a strange man in the garage. But, perhaps he didn't tell because Skellig was just the person whom he could confide in and talk about all his problems. The book entertained me but also sent me messages, one being: Love conquers all. The book was written for juveniles and I gave it four stars for being an excellent book for young adults but an entirely intelligent, historic, life-changing novel. The book moved me, it flowed smoothly, and had a very good plot with important messages, but the characters are very young and I couldn't really relate to them. The thing I liked most about the book is the mood Almond creates. He can make you feel very happy and joyous and also very sad. Every time I would read it I would want to go out and get some Chinese food. I think he has ties with a Chinese restaurant. You think? I would recommend this book to anyone from age nine to fifteen.

Rating:
Summary: skellig you cant take your eyes off it
Review: i had to read skellig for school. i thought it would just be boring like all the other books i have to read. but boy was i wrong. only those with imagination should dare to read this book. a compelling read i couldn't put it down (litterally).

Rating:
Summary: Skelling
Review: A boy moves into a old spooky house in a book called Skelling by David Almond. A boy called Michel moves into a new house with his family because his mom and dad just had a new baby. The next day they moved in the baby had a heart attack. There is a spooky stranger in their garage. Read Skellig to find out more about this mystery.

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Summary: Dreamily Unusual Children's Book...
Review: Michael hadn't really wanted to move to the creepy old house on Falconer Road, but his parents were determined to have more space for their growing family. The real estate agent had somehow convinced his parents that the old house was a real fixer upper and so Michael, instead of spending all day playing soccer with his friends, Leakey & Coot, was helping clear the garden and work on the house. He knew that his parents were really worried about his new baby sister, who was born early and was not doing very well. She was allowed to come home from the hospital, but had to return when she had trouble breathing. His mom and dad could think of nothing but the baby and Michael was left to his own devices.

His parents warned him not to go into the rickety old garage left standing on the property, but Michael couldn't resist exploring. What he found in the old garage astounded him - he found a kind of man in the corner. The man didn't seem to be able to carry on a normal conversation and Michael wasn't sure what to do, but he brought him food and tried to talk to him. Michael also made friends with Mina, the independent and free spirited girl who lived next door. Mina was different than anyone else that Michael had ever known and he wasn't sure that was necessarily a good thing. But Michael needed to know that he wasn't going crazy, so he showed the man to Mina. Between Mina and Michael, they were able to give Skellig, the strangely winged man, a new chance at life and to change their own lives forever.

This was a fascinating book. It is very different from most other children's books and did a superb job at conveying Michael's feelings of loneliness and alienation by the way that he described things in the story. It was interesting to get to know Michael as he progressed from being worried about how the move affected his life to worrying about his new baby sister and whether she would ever be able to come home. Skellig was a very different character and the reader never really does learn what or who he is. It is like real life in that way, mysteries are not always solved and life is colored in shades of gray. This is a great book for discussion with children or something that adults will enjoy reading on their own and thinking about.

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Summary: The Mystery of Skelling
Review: If you like fantasy, and suspensful stories, I am sure you'll love Skelling. Skelling has a little bit of everything in it, suspense, fantasy, mystery, and a lot more. The very first sentence pulled me in, "I found him in the gararge on a Sunday afternoon," and as you keep reading it just keeps on pulling you farther in. Even some of the names the author put in, for example Dr. Death, add to the excitement.
The book is about a ten year old boy named Michael. He has just moved to a new house. The house is sort of a mess and there is an old crumbling garage that Michael ventures into. To his surprise, he finds some kind of creature. Michael's little sister is ill and in the hospital with her mom. Michael's dad is staying home with him to fix up the house. Most nights they order chinese food, and Michael brings the creature the leftovers, along with beer and codliver oil capsules. Michael meets a girl named Mina, and he shows the creature to her. Mina and Michael carry the creature into the light, and their whole world change.
So if you like suspensful mysteries you'll love Skelling by David Almond.

Rating:
Summary: Skellig was excilent book.
Review: I love this book.My favorite charctar was Skellig. He loved Chines food. I liked other charctar too, but Skellig was my favorite. Skellig ate bugs too. He lived in gargage. They were planing to nook down the gargage.But he did not care. He wanted to die.

Rating:
Summary: Skellig: Man, Angel or Owl?
Review: This is a wonderful fantasy story that is filled with hope and compassion. The young boy can share his worry and anxiety over his baby sister's serious illness through his interactions with the "creature" he finds in the garage. I found this book great for engaging older readers who are reading below grade level because it has mature content and requires quite a lot of inferencing and critical thinking to fully understand the story.

Rating:
Summary: "Skellig" by Lina
Review: I liked this book quite a lot as the plot was very good and each character and creature had a very special quality about them, like Skellig.
Michael hates his life.They've just moved to a new broken down so called house, his baby sister is very ill and he discovers a strange new creature in the garage; Skellig. A fantastic adventure goes on in this book with Michael and his freind Mina helping Skellig throughout the whole book.
I didn't really like Mina's charater. This may seem a little bit suprising to SOME people who have had a little joke about me being like Mina because my name rhymes with hers (Mina,Lina get it?). However that is not true at all. I think Mina is very full of herself, thinking that she knows everything in the world. Some people might think that being educated at home is "cool" or something it is just ridiculous. Seeing as she is So clever, doesn't she want to go to a good university or college when she's older? And what about GCSE's. I think that a persons future is seen through their school work and education. What is she going to do with her life if she hasn't gone to school?
I think the end is very nice too. It is beautifully described when Skellig dances with the baby. And the baby's name, Joy, is spot on.
I would recommend this book to a lot of people as it is a good read. However this book covers a lot on evolution and this might be a little bit offensive to some people's religious beliefs because they believe that God created everything. This is true as i have already heard a lot of these "eveloutionary" complaints from some eople who ahev read the book. Nevertheless, it is a good book and eventhough it can use some improvements, i enjoyed it.

Rating:
Summary: Skellig
Review: I really enjoyed reading Skellig. It was fun, adventurous,and exiting.It was a very mysteryous book also.That was the main reason I liked this book.I would recommend this book over any other that I have read.

Rating:
Summary: A touching and heart-warming book
Review: Michael's family moved across town into an old house with a cluttered garden. Then his baby sister becomes sick and is carried off to hospital. His parents are busy with the baby and renovating the house, so Michael is left on his own to find some friends in the neighbourhood. He meets Mina, a home-schooled girl, who shows him some owls she found in an old attic. After this, Michael feels that he has to show her something aswell, so he leads her into the ancient garage in his garden. There, Michael introduces Mina to Skellig. The garage pledges to slowly collapse, so Michael and Mina have to carry Skellig into a shattered house a few streets away. Here, he regains his strength by eating '27 and 53' from the Chinese takeaway and the food Mina's owls bring him. Mina and Michael soon discover that Skellig has wings and is a strange kind of creature. He spends a lot of time with the owls in the attic, eats and leaves owl pellets behind like they do. Michael has a feeling that Skellig's appearance has something to do with his sister's illness, and so pleads him to think of her. When Michael and Mina visit him a while later, Skellig is gone. Michael takes this as a sign that his little sister died. But miraculously she survives a difficult operation. "... And in the end we simply called her Joy."