Skellig

Skellig is a children's book by David Almond, for which Almond was given the Carnegie Medal in 1998 and also the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award. In 2007 it was selected by judges of the CILIP Carnegie Medal for children's literature as one of the ten most important children's novels of the past 70 years. Skellig has been optioned for film. As of July 2007, a director and screenwriter have been chosen.^[1]

Plot Introduction

In the book, a young child named Michael who is a boy (age 10) finds a mysterious man-like creature living in the garage of his new house that Michael wants to know if he is an angel, a bird, or a man. In the midst of a turbulent life (moving, having a sick baby sister, losing old friends) Michael becomes increasingly obsessed and upset by the fate of this creature. Appropriately, the move is one that takes him from Random Road to Falconer Road. In other words, he has moved from the chaos of youthful bliss and ignorance into a new world of adulthood, which brings order and structure to his life. With the help of a new friend, Mina, who is home schooled, they move the creature to a place of safety and discover that he has wings.

Plot Summary

The novel begins with Michael's family moving to a new house that used to belong to an old man before he passed away. Michael's father tries to repair and clean the structure as best he can, but the garage is so dilapidated that Michael's father warns him not to go inside. Meanwhile, his mother is often at the hospital caring for his baby sister, who is suffering from heart complications. When he does go inside the garage one day, he finds, amid all the boxes, debris, and dead insects, a strange human-like creature called Skellig who seems to have almost wasted away. At School, Michael learns that human shoulder blades could be vestigial wingtips, which leads him to suspect that all humans could be descended from angels and that Skellig himself might be an angel because of some strange humps on his back. Michael continues to look after Skellig and bring him food. Meanwhile, his friends from school become more and more distant when he spends less time with them. He also meets a girl around his age named Mina who lives next door. She is home schooled, and is very interested in nature and poems by William Blake(her parents introduced her to his work). She takes care of some baby birds who live in her yard. As Skellig becomes less crabby and more friendly towards Michael, Michael decides to introduce him to Mina. The two children move Skellig out of the garage and into an abandoned house. They discover that he has wings, although they are dry and folded up. Michael learns more about arthritis, even visiting patients in a hospital. He tries to help Skellig overcome his ambiguously spiritual as well as physical illness. Skellig begins to heal and become what would appear to be an angel. He takes Michael and Mina flying through the night with owls, whose company he has enjoyed while living in the old house. But then, Michael's baby sister becomes dangerously close to death. His mother goes to the hospital to stay with the baby and pray over her. That night something mysterious happens. Skellig disappears, and the baby survives. Even with Skellig gone, Michael manages to maintain his friendship with Mina, as well as with his classmates.

Religious, Scientific, and Cultural References in the Text

The book is deliberately ambiguous about the nature of the creature. Although the obvious implication is that he is some kind of angel, his general demeanour and attitude is in direct contrast to traditional ideas about angels, leading the reader to consider ideas around religious imagery and the role of mystery in life. Skellig refers to both children as angels as well. There are obvious religious references in the text, reflecting Almond's Catholic upbringing, but, like the poet William Blake (who is quoted/heavily referenced in the novel), many of them revolve around unconventional concepts of Christianity. For example, early on in the novel it is proposed that human shoulder blades may actually be vestigial wings, making humans evolutionary descendents of angels. From there, the novel moves on to either more conventional or more vague concepts of spirituality. Fighting illnesses become a major theme when Michael visits Arthritis patients and when his family struggles to save the life of his baby sister. The names Skellig and Michael are possibly derived from the Skellig Michael Island off the coast of County Kerry, Ireland. St Michael is also the name of an archangel. Mina is most likely a diminutive of Wilhemina, a female form of the name "William", as Mina's parents are devotees of William Blake.

References

External links

A research article on Skellig from a children's literature journal Reviews and discussions of the ideas in Skellig Skellig Trivia A review of Skellig