My Name Is Mina (Skellig)

Maybe not as good as Skellig, Kit's Wilderness, or The Tale of the Monster Billy Dean, but still very good. Mina, the main character and narrator, is a solitary and thoughtful character, so more of the narration is thinking than usual (thinking as opposed to narration of action). Mina's a compelling character, though. Enjoyable.

This has been one of my daughter's favorite books for a few years. It is different and written in the style of a journal. She loves it!

My daughter LOVES this book. Mina is just as silly as she is. She read it from the library first, then had to get a copy of it for herself. I think she's re-read it monthly since we got it.

This book is just extremely different than any book I've read before. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Skellig!

It was an excellent book which will keep anyone interested. It was really different from other books i have read.

My daughters, who were both homeschooled at some point, loved this book. Highly recommend!

It started off pretty interesting, I got bored half way through.

Got it for my daughter.She loved it

I love this story and the one that followsIt is not easy being a child and try to fit into the adults world and understand why things happenedWhen one is a child lives different realities , so the adults problems affect sometimes hurting, others being put aside, or being punished for reasons that only adults comprenhend.Mina use her writing to express pain, frustration, fear and love. His imaginary worlds help her to feel free.The friendship between Mina and Michael save their childhood.

Cover is damaged (folder and a piece in the ‘A’ at the top is ripped off). Not happy with the condition of this book.

Lo pidió luego de leer Skellig y le ha encantado.

Ottimo testo.

My Name is Mina by David AlmondThis novel is all about Mina, the girl who befriends Michael in one of David Almond's previous novels, Skellig. It is a prequel; written after another story, but giving parallel events leading up to Mina and Michael meeting at the start of Skellig.Mina is a reflective and solitary child. She is labelled a misfit and is eventually home-schooled by her creative, loving and imaginative mother. Mina is a gifted writer but her style is not one appreciated by her teacher, Miss Scullery. There is an hilarious scene during last year's SATs writing test, `Write about a busy place'. Mina decides to write her entire piece, Glibbertysnark, as nonsense; the sort of Jabberwocky nonsense, that somehow makes sense. Her teacher becomes apoplectic and resorts to swearing, which despite being a children's book, is entirely appropriate in this context. The ensuing meeting between her teacher and the Headteacher results in her mother being summoned and Mina is removed for home-schooling. She spends one day in a special school, a moving and inspirational chapter of her journal, but she decides it is not for her and her education from thenceforth is one of freedom, exploration and creativity.The underlying themes of this story are of loss, of her father, and self-discovery of herself. We see glimpses of the parallel Skellig story; of Michael moving next door; the mention of the garage central to that book; the start of Michael's baby sister's illness.This book is written in a variety of fonts which reflect the tone of what is being written. It takes the form of Mina's journal and reads like an internal monologue of her thoughts, feelings, dreams and fears. There are echoes of Jack's style in Love that Dog by Sharon Creech; a child's observations and questions about both the wonders and absurdities of the world around them. Both children write poetry to express their thoughts.In reality, it is probably a KS3 book, although superficially quite an easy read. However, there are many layers in this book which could provide a challenging read, and basis for Book Talk by a Gifted and Talented reading circle in Year 6.