There’s an empty notebook lying on the table in the moonlight. It’s been there for an age. I keep on saying that I’ll write a journal. So I’ll start right here, right now. I open the book and write the very first words: My name is Mina and I love the night. Then what shall I write I can’t just write that this happened then this happened then this happened to boring infinitum. I’ll let my journal grow just like the mind does, just like a tree or a beast does, just like life does. Why should a book tell a tale in a dull straight line
And so Mina writes and writes in her notebook, and here is her journal, Mina’s life in Mina’s own words: her stories and dreams, experiences and thoughts, her scribblings and nonsense, poems and songs. Her vivid account of her vivid life.
In this stunning audio book, David Almond revisits Mina before she has met Michael, before she has met Skellig.
Shortlisted for the 2012 Carnegie Medal.
(P) Hodder Children’s Books 2011
And so Mina writes and writes in her notebook, and here is her journal, Mina’s life in Mina’s own words: her stories and dreams, experiences and thoughts, her scribblings and nonsense, poems and songs. Her vivid account of her vivid life.
In this stunning audio book, David Almond revisits Mina before she has met Michael, before she has met Skellig.
Shortlisted for the 2012 Carnegie Medal.
(P) Hodder Children’s Books 2011
Reviews
A joyous celebration of what it means to be young and alive and enquiring.
A truly remarkable book. A extraordinary masterpiece.
A skillful, affecting and impassioned book.
Almond's chatty, informal and unique writing is different from anything you have read by him before.
Another gem from this award-winning author.
Almond promotes and celebrates freedom for children and their thinking in this lyrical book about growing up.
Intensely moving, this is a profoundly uplifting expression of joy, imagination and consciousness. Absolutely brilliant
A rare and beautiful novel.
A celebration of the richness of the everyday world and to read it is to feel uplifted.
A poignant, heart-warming novel fuelled by Almond's generosity of spirit and his endorsement of childhood's individuality and quirkiness.
A pitch-perfect prequel to Skellig. A gloriously rich, multi-layered novel.
One of the stand-out novels of the year.
A sensational meditation on creativity and the power of words. A must for any budding writer.
A wonderful book. It is joyous. Thank you, David Almond; I cannot remember when a book filled me with such claminosity.