From: Dean Schneider <schneiderd>
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2000 13:08:15 -0500

I read Skellig for the second time last week and enjoyed it at least as much the second time around. It seems to me to represent the best of children's and young adult literature: clear and lively prose, a fascinating story, and much to ponder. It was startling for me how much the author was able to do in a short novel. It is poetically written with powerful imagery, it tackles the mysteries of life and death, explores a new friendship in the midst of other friendships (at school), and, though simply written, it is rich in description and the use of magical realism.
        Kids I know who have read Skellig have liked it, though it seems useful for them to discuss it with an adult. I teach 7th and 8th graders, and they are not always comfortable with mystery and open-endedness; they want things tied together nicely at the end of stories. Yet mystery is a theme of Skellig, perhaps the theme: "What is he?" "We can't know. Sometimes we just accept there are things we can't know. Why is your sister ill? Why did my father die?" (140) And in the face of mystery, it is about imagination, love and joy/Joy.
        As much as I liked Skellig - and it was one of my favorite books last year - I liked Kit's Wilderness even more, but I'll reserve my comments for when we are finished discussing Skellig.


Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, TN 37205
Received on Fri 07 Jul 2000 01:08:15 PM CDT