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My Name is Mina
On sale
6th October 2011
Price: £14.99
CILIP Carnegie Children's Book Award, 2012
Genre
Children's, Teenage & Educational / Children's / Teenage Fiction & True Stories / Fantasy & Magical Realism (children's
Select a format
Selected:
Audiobook CD / ISBN-13: 9781444907490
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 book, David Almond revisits Mina before she has met Michael, before she has met Skellig.
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 book, David Almond revisits Mina before she has met Michael, before she has met Skellig.
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Reviews
a master novelist
There really is nobody quite like Almond writing in children's or adults' fiction today.
a writer of subtle, page-turning and daring exactness.
Almond manages to make a work of art out of the simplest words.
David Almond is a fine writer, one of the very finest we have. He is simply incapable of writing a bad sentence.
'Another brilliant novel from a master storyteller.'
Unsettling but, as ever, beautifully written.
'... exceptional, delicate writing ... make a moving and thoughtful story told with exceptional elegance.'
'exquisite prose which sparkles off the page'
BACKLIST REVIEWS: 'a book of startling quality and tremendous beauty'
David Almond's novels all have a unique, mystical thread running through them. He weaves a story web, spiderlike, that holds the reader spellbound while he spins new though-threads on universal themes.
One of these days, someone is going to notice that David Almond has been kidnapped by children's publishing and demand him back for adults. But until then, we must rejoice in every new offering of his.
"superb coming-of-age novel from one of our master story-tellers."
"This is a novel of power and beauty."
A remarkable and thought-provoking prequel.
A standalone exploration of a child's relationship with language, ideas and living things... the reader is with her all the way.
The creative way Mina uses words to explore her dreams and ideas will inspire anyone who's ever kept a diary.
The life-affirming journal of a home-schooled girl.
A sensational meditation on creativity and the power of words.
A wonderful book. It is joyous. Thank you, David Almond; I cannot remember when a book filled me with such claminosity.
A skillful, affecting and impassioned book.
A celebration of the richness of the everyday world and to read it is to feel uplifted.
A rare and beautiful novel.
A pitch-perfect prequel to Skellig. A gloriously rich, multi-layered novel.
A poignant, heart-warming novel fuelled by Almond's generosity of spirit and his endorsement of childhood's individuality and quirkiness.
Another gem from this award-winning author.
A sensational meditation on creativity and the power of words. A must for any budding writer.
Almond's chatty, informal and unique writing is different from anything you have read by him before.
Almond promotes and celebrates freedom for children and their thinking in this lyrical book about growing up.
A joyous celebration of what it means to be young and alive and enquiring.
A truly remarkable book. A extraordinary masterpiece.
One of the stand-out novels of the year.
Intensely moving, this is a profoundly uplifting expression of joy, imagination and consciousness. Absolutely brilliant