Skellig is David Almond's childhood concentrated in a book, but at the same time it is not. His protagonist, Michael, moves to a street identical to the one Almond moved to as a child and lives in a house with identical characteristics. Even the filthy garage full of junk and about to collapse is the same one that populates the writer's memories. But in his garage there was never a fallen or arthritic angel, nor did his little sister have the happy outcome of still being alive. He also never met anyone named Mina.
David Almond (Newcastle, 1951) is not shy when it comes to addressing children. He does it directly, without holding back, with fascinating stories tinged with a dark side that makes them even more incredible if possible. Much has had to do with his passion as a child for myths and traditions and, somewhat more adolescent now, for ghosts and science fiction. His Catholic roots are also present in his work, especially in Skellig, the novel that won him the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Award for Children's Book of the Year and is now back on bookstore shelves to coincide with the 25th anniversary of its publication. .
Skellig is not exactly a light book. When Michael moves into his new house, he discovers an extraordinary creature in the garage. A magical being with wings who loves Chinese food and stout. What is it? Some kind of angel? We will never know for sure. But Skellig, that's his name, will be present in the life of Michael and that of his neighbor, Mina, during a crucial period in the boy's life. His appearance coincides with the admission to the hospital of his little sister, a baby who is torn between life and death due to a heart condition. “My own childhood was marked by brighter and darker moments, for example the death of my little sister. And as a writer, how am I not going to include these little details of darkness?” reflects the author, who considers it dangerous to avoid talking about certain topics with children.
“It is a story that came to me suddenly, walking down the street, I don't really know where it would go from or where it would end or how it would end. I didn't know many things yet, but what I did know while I was writing is that I was doing something new”, explains the author by videoconference. “Many people have fallen in love with this book. For many it is an important book. Adults who read it as children are now passing it on to their own children. So for me it is an honor and a privilege to have created a work that has reached so many people, that has inspired and moved so many readers."
The unique voice of David Almond and his magical realism – see if not The Boy Who Swimm with the Piranhas (2012) – earned him the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2010, whose jury highlighted his use of language, capable of captivating to children and adults alike. “Children's and Youth literature is the heart of literature; it is the most important type of literature we have”, claims Almond, who, however, never imagined writing for children. “When I started writing for young people I felt a release, a new energy. They are young people who are maturing, growing up, who still don't know what they want to do and what I'm trying to do with all this, with my stories, is to make them think about their possibilities and what they are going to be able to achieve”.
The role of Mina, a young neighbor of Michael's, a great speaker of William Blake and who studies at home with her mother, contains many of the keys that define Almond. Among them, her opinion on Education today in the United Kingdom: “There are wonderful teachers in this country. I myself was a teacher. The problem arises when we put them in a mechanical system, the same desks, the same answers, which prevents them from thinking, creating”.
