My Name is Mina
On sale
3rd October 2013
Price: £7.99
CILIP Carnegie Children's Book Award, 2012
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.
Shortlisted for the 2012 Carnegie Medal.
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.
Shortlisted for the 2012 Carnegie Medal.
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Reviews
"superb coming-of-age novel from one of our master story-tellers."
Almond promotes and celebrates freedom for children and their thinking in this lyrical book about growing up.
David Almond is a fine writer, one of the very finest we have. He is simply incapable of writing a bad sentence.
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.
The creative way Mina uses words to explore her dreams and ideas will inspire anyone who's ever kept a diary.
Intensely moving, this is a profoundly uplifting expression of joy, imagination and consciousness. Absolutely brilliant
A sensational meditation on creativity and the power of words. A must for any budding writer.
Unsettling but, as ever, beautifully written.
Incredibly moving.
One of the stand-out novels of the year.
A pitch-perfect prequel to Skellig. A gloriously rich, multi-layered novel.
A joyous celebration of what it means to be young and alive and enquiring.
A remarkable and thought-provoking prequel.
A poignant, heart-warming novel fuelled by Almond's generosity of spirit and his endorsement of childhood's individuality and quirkiness.
'A celebration of the richness of the everyday world... to read it is to feel uplifted.'
Almond's chatty, informal and unique writing is different from anything you have read by him before.
There really is nobody quite like Almond writing in children's or adults' fiction today.
'exquisite prose which sparkles off the page'
Almond manages to make a work of art out of the simplest words.
"This is a novel of power and beauty."
BACKLIST REVIEWS: 'a book of startling quality and tremendous beauty'
Almond promotes and celebrates freedom for children and their thinking in this lyrical book about growing up.
Another gem from this award-winning author.
A rare and beautiful novel.
A sensational meditation on creativity and the power of words.
A truly remarkable book. A extraordinary masterpiece.
A celebration of the richness of the everyday world and to read it is to feel uplifted.
A glorification of imagination. David Almond has created a novel that will excite, astound and inspire adults and children alike.
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.
'... exceptional, delicate writing ... make a moving and thoughtful story told with exceptional elegance.'
A standalone exploration of a child's relationship with language, ideas and living things... the reader is with her all the way.
a master novelist
'Another brilliant novel from a master storyteller.'
a writer of subtle, page-turning and daring exactness.
A skillful, affecting and impassioned book.
A wonderful book. It is joyous. Thank you, David Almond; I cannot remember when a book filled me with such claminosity.