Skellig is deliberately ambiguous about its title character. [5] Almond has provided public answers to some frequent questions from his school visits. The names "Skellig" and "Michael" are derived from the Skellig Islands off the coast of County Kerry, Ireland. [6] One of them is Skellig Michael Island; St Michael is also the name of an archangel. The book is very mystical and slightly unnerving as you never get to find out exactly what Skellig is although it is hinted he is some kind of angel. However, he is not what people might assume a conventional angel. He is in a shabby dirty suit, staying alive by eating spiders when Michael finds him and instead of being religious and saintly keeps asking Michael to bring him beer and Chinese food. The book also contains vivid descriptions so even though you may never know what Skellig is you know exactly what he looks like. My first thought after reading it was that if it had been an adult novel I would have loved it. As a novel it felt more like a very nice sketch of an interesting and magical story than what I would like from a finished book. Not that there seemed to be anything necessarily missing from the book, it just didn't seem fully flushed out, like there was more he could have done with the book to given it more depth and expanded some of the themes in even more interesting ways. Of course doing so would have made this probably not a YA novel, but rather moved him into the magical-realism worlds of someone like Jonathan Carroll or Nicholas Christopher. But that said I found this really enjoyable, but in a teasing way that made me want more of something that there was no more to have.

Skellig won the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the Hans Christian Andersen award, the Nonino International Prize, and has received an OBE for services to literature. There is much to admire in Almond's book. Michael, the protagonist, is a wonderful boy, a kind sensitive protagonist much like a little boy I know, and boys like that are underrepresented in literature (it seems to me). Mina, Michael's friend, is a fierce, uncompromising home schooled girl with a deep love of William Blake (kind of like an Amber I know) and an open, welcoming, searching view of all the potentials in the world. They are a delightful pair to spend time with, and their care of Skellig made me cheer for them. HAY LIBROS PREDESTINADOS A SER ESCRITOS. Nadie sabe porque razón es así, solo que un día, sin que las circunstancias sean las más propicias, de repente, alguien tiene la idea de escribir una historia que tocará la vida de la mayoría de sus lectores.

International

I also remember how quiet this story is, and how it’s poignant and beautiful and occasionally uncomfortable to read. And I remember that joyous ending. And I also remember how I wished I had friends I could communicate with using an owl call. “Hoot. Hoot hoot hoot.” And I remember Whisper and how much I used to want a cat just like him. Imagine such a person saying, "Oh, no, I'd never read FANTASY. Give me slice of life and coming of age story, only. IF it has a bit of awe and wonder in it and it's done WELL, then I *might* bump it up as my absolute favorite novel of all time because it shows everyone just how DARING I am. You know. Because I could never LOVE Fantasy. My friends will be so impressed." The amount of really well written metaphors and themes throughout this book is a delight. One example of this is how Michael is told to view his new home in his mind's eye and the potential it has. He has to view the man in his garage and the situation with his sister in a similar light. No matter how grubby, repulsive or broken a situation or person may appear, with the right determination and help, these situations can be transformed into something more beautiful than anything originally thought. Something," he said. "Something like you, something like a beast, something like a bird, something like an angel." He laughed. "Something like that.”

The themes of the book revolve around friendship, loyalty, family units, faith and responsibility as well as many other aspects impacting on childhood and well-being.Schools: Information". David Almond. Archived from the original on 12 September 2010. Confirmed 27 November 2060.