Books with author David Almond

From master storyteller David Almond comes a gripping, exquisitely written novel about a hidden-away child who emerges into a broken world.Billy Dean is a secret child. He has a beautiful young mother and a father who arrives at night carrying the scents of candles and incense and cigarettes. Birds fly to his window. Mice run out from his walls. His world is a carpet, a bed, pictures of the holy island, and a single locked door. His father fills his mind and his dreams with mysterious tales and memories and dreadful warnings. But then his father disappears, and Billy’s mother brings him out into the world at last. He learns the horrifying story of what was saved and what was destroyed on the day he was born, the day the bombers came to Blinkbonny. The kind butcher, Mr. McCaufrey, and the medium, Missus Malone, are waiting for him. He becomes The Angel Child, one who can heal the living, contact the dead, bring comfort to a troubled world. But there is one figure who is beyond healing, who comes looking for Billy himself — and is determined on a kind of reckoning.

The Tightrope Walkers by David Almond - a novel of young love and tragedy from the prizewinning author of Skellig'I was born in a hovel on the banks of the Tyne...'Dominic Hall grows up in the sixties on a brand-new estate, along with the other families who escaped the river. But the Tyne is still an overwhelming presence, and most of the fathers work in the shipyards. Dom is torn between his new mates: Holly Stroud, his enchanting neighbour, and Vincent McAlinden, who's something else altogether - a wild, dangerous boy with murderous instincts. After his mother's death, Dom has to decide who he is, what he wants to be - and then face up to the consequences.Deeply moving with a unique narrative voice, The Tightrope Walkers will be loved by fans of Roddy Doyle, Irvine Welsh and Ross Raisin, as well as readers familiar with David Almond's masterful novel The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean, and the hugely popular Skellig. 'Almond is a master storyteller' Independent'Not only dramatically and emotionally suspenseful, it is also vividly drawn and wonderfully well-paced, as we might expect from a master storyteller' John Burnside on THE TRUE TALE OF THE MONSTER BILLY DEAN, GuardianDavid Almond is the author of Skellig and other novels and plays for adults and children. He has won many prestigious awards including the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2010, the Carnegie Medal and two Whitbreads. His first novel for adults, The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean was published in 2011.He was born in Newcastle, grew up on Tyneside and now lives with his family in Northumberland.

Erin Law and her friends are Damaged Children. At least that is the label given to them by Maureen, the woman who runs the orphanage that they live in. Damaged, Beyond Repair because they have no parents to take care of them. But Erin knows that if they care for each other they can put up with the psychologists, the social workers, the therapists -- at least most of the time. Sometimes there is nothing left but to run away, to run for freedom. And that is what Erin and two friends do, run away one night downriver on a raft. What they find on their journey is stranger than you can imagine, maybe, and you might not think it's true. But Erin will tell you it is all true. And the proof is a girl named Heaven Eyes, who sees through all the darkness in the world to the joy that lies beneath.

Joe lives with his mother in Helmouth, a forgotten village crumbling on the edge of the suburbs. His days are spent trying to evade the demands of school and the taunts of the local bullies. Joe's friend, Stanny, insists that Joe must toughen up, become a survivor - and he is adamant that a weekend in the wilderness with Stanny and his Uncle Joff will do the trick.Into Joe's unhappy world comes Hackenschmidt's Circus, and with it the strangely familiar Corinna. She tells Joe, 'In the circus there is a secret heart ' - a place of contained wildness where the barriers between the human and animal world are fluid. And indeed, Joe's dreams are already stalked by a tiger, so real that his skin and its pelt begin to feel as one...A stunning novel from the author of the modern children's classic Skellig - winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award.

In Counting Stars David Almond tackles the themes common to his work - joy, darkness, love, death and identity - with exquisite sensitivity and tenderness. David's childhood in the north of England was the inspiration for much of his work, and in these beautiful stories he creates a tangible picture of growing up in a large Catholic family. But the sense of mystery and wonderment we have come to expect from David is also present, and it is fascinating to see the kernels of his novels revealed. A must-read for Almond fans everywhere.A stunning collection of stories from the author of the modern children's classic Skellig - winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award.

David Almond’s extraordinary novels have established him as an author of unique insight and skill. These stories encapsulate his endless sense of mystery and wonderment, as they weave a tangible tapestry of growing up in a large, loving family. Here are the kernels of his novels—joy and fear, darkness and light, the healing power of love and imagination in overcoming the wounds of ignorance and prejudice. These stories merge memory and dream, the real and the imagined, in a collection of exquisite tenderness.

Joe lives with his mother in Helmouth, a forgotten village crumbling on the edge of the suburbs. His days are spent trying to evade the demands of school and the taunts of the local bullies. Joe's friend, Stanny, insists that Joe must toughen up, become a survivor - and he is adamant that a weekend in the wilderness with Stanny and his Uncle Joff will do the trick.Into Joe's unhappy world comes Hackenschmidt's Circus, and with it the strangely familiar Corinna. She tells Joe, 'In the circus there is a secret heart ' - a place of contained wildness where the barriers between the human and animal world are fluid. And indeed, Joe's dreams are already stalked by a tiger, so real that his skin and its pelt begin to feel as one...A stunning novel from the author of the modern children's classic Skellig - winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award.

David Almond’s Printz Honor–winning novel celebrates its 10th anniversary!Ten-year-old Michael was looking forward to moving into a new house. But now his baby sister is ill, his parents are frantic, and Doctor Death has come to call. Michael feels helpless. Then he steps into the crumbling garage. . . . What is this thing beneath the spiders' webs and dead flies? A human being, or a strange kind of beast never before seen? The only person Michael can confide in is his new friend, Mina. Together, they carry the creature out into the light, and Michael's world changes forever. . . .From the Trade Paperback edition.

David Almond turns his talents to drama in these two plays. Skellig is the dramatization of his highly acclaimed novel. What has Michael found in the derelict garage? What is this creature that lies in the darkness? Is it human, or a strange beast never seen before? And what will happen in the world when he carries it out into the light?Wild Girl, Wild Boy is an original play produced in London by the Pop-Up Theatre company. Young Elaine has recently lost her father, and now she spends her days dreaming in the family’s garden, skipping school, unable to read or write. One day, Elaine conjures up a Wild Boy from spells and fairy seed. No one else can see him, and Elaine disappears into a world of fantasy where she and Wild Boy remember the teachings of her father. Will her mother ever come to understand?These two plays introduce a new talent from the remarkable David Almond.