From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 09:00:03 +0000

I'm a big fan of David Almond's children's books. The writing, the language, the characters, and circumstances are incredible. However, as with Skellig I had wondered whether many children read and enjoyed the book and if so at what age and under what circumstances. (Sorry, but as I wrote last month, I can't read this literature without considering the target audience: children.) I was surprised in September when one of my 4th graders told me that she had read Skellig as it had seemed something for older children (even if the protagonist was her age). I thought my students would be confused by it more than anything else.

Kit's Wilderness seems to have a plot that would be more likely to grab a child than Skellig. I've givn it to a couple of my students who also enjoyed Pullman's His Dark Materials. However, it was too dark for me. I like both Skellig and Heaven Eyes (which I don't think is yet published in the US) better. There is something so grim about Kit's Wilderness whereas the other two seem more magical in a lighter way. I can't put my finger on it; perhaps someone else can. Or perhaps it is just my quirky reading of all three books.

However, even if I like the other two books better, I still like Kit's Wilderness a great deal and think it well deserved the award.



While I agree that this was an amusing read, I did not find it so extraordinary. Fun, yes. Funny, yes. But that is all. In fact, I was a bit disappointed when I read it because it had gotten so many accolades that I was expecting more. The diary format, while popular, is a bit trite in my opinion and I didn't feel that Rennison did anything beyond a sort of Brigit's Diary for young adults. Don't get me wrong, it was fun, but just not amazing.


Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Fri 16 Feb 2001 03:00:03 AM CST