Michael, friendless, angry, and scared for his baby sister's health, takes to exploring around the house, including the broken down garage, where he finds Skellig, a creepy, dessicated man with wings. Skellig is the story of Michael, a kid whose family has just moved into a dilapidated old house. Skellig is great, and, while I can lay out the plot for you, it simply doesn't do justice to the murky, head-swirling wonder of Almond's language and mood. Almond, a first-time British author, and the award, that being its first year. Librarians and kidslit booksellers from the region (I was working in a bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky at the time) had been invited by the publisher to come to a swanky dinner with him at the Ruth's Chris Steakhouse as a celebration-and, of course, to promote Mr. Not until the one-two punch of 20 has there been as good a lineup). Printz award for his first book, Skellig (and that first year was an amazing one for the Printz award, and YA in general: Skellig, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and Ellen Wittlinger's Hard Love all lost to Walter Dean Myers Monster.

I first discovered David Almond on a road trip to see him up in Cincinnati, Ohio back ten years or so ago when he was nominated for the Michael L. I'm telling you, don't waste your time on my prose, go get some Almond now! But, if you want more reasons why, join me after the jump. You can start with his latest book, The Savage, which has everything that's great about Almond, plus illustrations (comics-within-the-novel?) by the phenomenal Dave McKean. David Almond writes books unlike anyone else, and for that reason alone you should gobble up everything you can by him.

David almond first book