The bestselling story about love, loss and hope that launched David Almond as one of the best children’s writers of today. Winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread children’s book of the Year Award.

When a move to a new house coincides with his baby sister’s illness, Michael’s world seems suddenly lonely and uncertain.

Then, one Sunday afternoon, he stumbles into the old, ramshackle garage of his new home, and finds something magical. A strange creature – part owl, part angel, a being who needs Michael’s help if he is to survive. With his new friend Mina, Michael nourishes Skellig back to health, while his baby sister languishes in the hospital.

But Skellig is far more than he at first appears, and as he helps Michael breathe life into his tiny sister, Michael’s world changes for ever . . .

Skellig won the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children’s Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award.

Powerful and moving – The Guardian

This newly jacketed edition celebrates 20 years of this multi-award-winning novel.

Reviews

A story full of heart and magic and big confusing emotions, elegantly told by a master craftsman. A perfect piece of art

Big Issue (london)

Touched with a visionary intensity, this strange, hugely readable and life-affirming tale exercises every muscle of the imagination

The Guardian

Humorous, heart-stopping and haunting...an emotional roller-coaster of a read with a cliff-hanger of a conclusion. Inspired and inspiring.

Newcastle Journal

A visionary story...a lyrical, magical kind of book which can be read on many different levels

The Daily Mail

Voted Carnegie Medal's Number one Top Book of the past 70 years

The Times

I can't eat a chinese takeaway without thinking about this strange and beautiful book about an angel who seems to have lost his way.

The Big Issue

A bookshelf essential.

The Guardian

Deservedly popular

The Observer

Powerful and moving

Guardian.co.uk

A beautiful story which will enchant young and old alike

Western Morning News

A modern classic
Listed as on the of the 100 Best Children's Books Ever (Novels)

The Daily Telegraph

Powerful and moving.

The Guardian

One of those books that you can't put down

Evening Echo (Cork)

This modern classic has been reissued in a beautiful 15th anniversary edition

The Sunday Telegraph

An exquisitely crafted book with a mystical core

The Daily Telegraph

The sort of children's book that makes adults find excuses to read more of them

Times Educational Supplement

Hard to put down

The Daily Telegraph

Refusing to read this book on the grounds that you are not a child makes as much sense as refusing to read crime fiction because you are not a criminal. A deep and lovely book.

The Times

An exquisite book

The Sunday Telegraph

Brings Magical Realism to working-class Northeast England

i (The Independent)

Lyrical, innovative and moving...unforgettably moving

Sunday Express

The book I wish I'd written is Skellig by David Almond. Almond's book has a great sense of the mysterious; we are left with a sense of wonder. I wish that I had written it!

Books For Keeps

Lyrical, innovative and unforgettably moving.

Sunday Express (Cressida Cowell)

David Almond

David Almond is the author of Skellig, My Name is Mina, Island, Bone Music and many other novels, stories, picture books, opera librettos, songs and plays. His work is translated into 40 languages, and is widely adapted for stage and screen. His major awards include the Carnegie Medal, two Whitbread Awards, the Eleanor Farjeon Award, the Michael L Printz Award (USA), Le Prix Sorcières (France), the Nonino International Prize, the James Kruss Prize and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. He has also won the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the world’s most prestigious prize for children’s authors. In 2021, David was awarded an OBE for services to literature.

David speaks at festivals and conferences around the world. He is Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. He is widely regarded as one of the most exciting, inspirational and innovative children’s authors writing today. He has one amazing daughter. He lives in Newcastle, the city in which he was born.