New Releases by David Almond

Writing in the tradition of Pinocchio, Hans Christian Anderson Award winner David Almond brings his ineffable touch to a warm and wistful story that shows anything is possible with imagination and trust. “You’re a mystery, aren’t you, Puppet? But isn’t everything a mystery? Not just you, but every single thing that exists.” What should a puppet master do when he’s old and alone and all his puppets are gone? Silvester decides to make one last puppet. But this one is different. When the old man speaks to him, Puppet speaks back. And then he starts to walk . . . While Silvester shows Puppet the town, the playground, and other wonders the world holds, Puppet in turn helps Silvester to make a new friend and share his puppet-making skills with the next generation. With themes of compassion and creativity, threaded with David Almond’s inimitable humor, this wonder-filled story of creation and the circle of life, illustrated with wordless black-and-white spreads by award-winning artist Lizzy Stewart, is destined to become a modern-day classic.

The bestselling story about love, loss and hope that launched David Almond as one of the best children''s writers of today. Winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children''s Book of the Year Award, this unforgettable book now has captivating illustrations by Tom de Freston to celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary. When a move to a new house coincides with his baby sister''s illness, Michael''s world seems suddenly lonely and uncertain. One Sunday afternoon, he stumbles into the ramshackle garage of his new home and finds something magical. A strange creature - human? beast? bird? angel? - a being who needs Michael''s help if he is to survive. With his new friend Mina, Michael nourishes Skellig back to health. But Skellig is far more than he at first appears, and as he helps Michael breathe life into his tiny sister, Michael''s world changes for ever ... Skellig won the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children''s Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the Hans Christian Andersen award, the Nonino International Prize, and has received an OBE for services to literature. He is celebrated as - in the words of the Independent - ''a master storyteller''. ''This strange, hugely readable and life-affirming tale exercises every muscle of the imagination'' Guardian

Love, death, hope ... the island will change their lives forever. From the bestselling David Almond, author of SKELLIG, and now with fantastic illustrations by the award-winning David Litchfield. Louise has travelled with her father to the island every year since she can remember - it''s the place her mother loved best of all. The arrival of Hassan changes everything. Louise is restless and yearning for independence; meanwhile, the fiercely free and self-reliant Hassan seems to know the island from long ago as if it were his home from birth. Hassan is an acrobat, maybe a sorcerer, possibly a source of great danger. The wild boys who call the island their home want to cast him out. The forces of love, death and hope move Louise and Hassan together. The island will change their lives forever. David Almond is the author of many beloved and prize-winning books for children and teenagers. His best known work, Skellig, won the Whitbread Children''s Award and the Carnegie Medal and has been widely adapted for stage and screen. He has also won the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the world''s most prestigious prize for children''s authors. In 2021, David was awarded an OBE for services to literature. ''There really is nobody quite like Almond writing in children''s or adult''s fiction today.'' The Times

This wonderful tale transports Mina to Kyoto, Japan, an entirely new and different cultural landscape, where she encounters the magic of origami and an older magic, too. She accepts an origami paper boat from a woman on the bus. ''Ko-ni-chi-wa,'' says the woman, ''Take it.'' And then, ''Float it.'' Mina watches as the woman''s fingers fold another elaborate paper form: creased, tugged and teased into the shape of a paper bird. She imagines what it would be like to be a sheet of paper in the woman''s hands, to become a paper Mina. The crowds around her disappear and Kyoto is gone. This is a beautiful story from one of the masters of magical realism, David Almond, with stunning illustrations from Kirsti Beautyman. "Spell-binding... impossible to resist... breathless, intoxicating prose. [Almond''s] books seem to exist in their own otherworldly universe, outside all the trends in modern publishing, yet resolutely of the now." The Glasgow Herald "David Almond''s books are strange, unsettling wild things - unfettered by the normal constraints of children''s literature. They are, like all great literature, beyond classification." The Guardian "[David Almond] is that rare thing - a writer of lucid, mature elegance, who can still see the world through adolescent eyes." The Daily Telegraph "A writer of visionary Blakean intensity." The Times "A master storyteller." The Independent

Master storyteller David Almond’s whimsical story about freedom, imagination, and daring all but soars off the page, paired with exquisite paintings by Laura Carlin. “Go on. Be happy. Off you fly!” A charming tale from a beloved storyteller and award-winning illustrator urges readers of all ages to take chances and find joy. Nanty Solo is new in town and claims she can turn children into birds. Terrified parents forbid the idea, but the children want to fly—they want it very much—and they do. One by one, they approach Nanty Solo. One by one, they are transformed until the sky over town teems with rooks and goldfinches, parakeets and sparrows. The adults take one look and cry, “Get out of that sky this very minute!” But the sight of their offspring—set free to soar, hope, and explore—soon has the grown-ups wondering what it might be like to have wings to fly and a beak to sing. The lilting, dreamy tale, told in David Almond’s inimitable voice and playfully illustrated, assures us it’s never too late to say yes to life.

An inventive tale by a beloved Hans Christian Andersen Award winner celebrates our differences—and the joys of inclusion—through the lens of artificial intelligence. From the boundless imagination of David Almond comes a thought-provoking question, packaged in a lively illustrated chapter book: what if a robot went to school? When a new boy joins their class, everyone thinks he’s . . . odd. George doesn’t behave like other kids. He doesn’t think like other kids. But he’s great at football and snacking, and that’s what matters to Dan and Maxie and friends, who resolve to make George feel welcome. Over time, they learn that he’s just like them, in most ways, except one: George is a robot, part of an ambitious new experiment, with sinister people bent on destroying him. When his lab pulls him out of school, can George’s new friends recover him—and set him free? Told in David Almond’s signature rollicking narrative style, this poignant tale about what it means to be human, paired with warm and funny black-and-white illustrations, will inspire children to think and giggle in equal measure.

Wir sind uralt und brandneu Die fünfzehnjährige Sylvia, schüchtern und zugleich mutig und rebellisch, zieht aus Newcastle ins wilde Northumberland und fühlt sich fremd in der riesigen, scheinbar leeren Landschaft. Aber dann trifft sie Gabriel, einen seltsam vertrauten Jungen. Als sie gemeinsam durch die Wälder und Fjells streifen, sieht sie die Natur mit neuen Augen. Unter einem grenzenlosen Sternenhimmel verbindet sie sich intensiv mit der uralten Vorzeit - überall um sie herum ist die Vergangenheit und steckt zugleich tief in ihr selbst. Aus dem Flügel eines toten Bussards stellen die beiden eine Knochenflöte her, jene Art von Instrument, mit dem einst die erste Musik der Menschheit erklang. Und Sylvia entdeckt, was es wirklich bedeutet, in der heutigen Welt jung zu sein. Ein Buch, das die Menschlichkeit feiert und den tiefen Verbindungen zwischen uns und der Natur nachspürt. Atemberaubende Schilderungen einer magischen, einzigartigen Welt.

A haunting, stunningly illustrated story of loss, hope, and the power of music from multi-award winners David Almond and Levi Pinfold. Kielder Water is a wild and beautiful place, rich in folk music and legend. Years ago, before a great dam was built to fill the valley with water, there were farms and homesteads in that valley and musicians who livened their rooms with song. After the village was abandoned and before the waters rushed in, a father and daughter returned there. The girl began to play her fiddle, bringing her tune to one empty house after another — for this was the last time that music would be heard in that place. With exquisite artwork by Levi Pinfold, David Almond’s lyrical narrative — inspired by a true tale — pays homage to his friends Mike and Kathryn Tickell and all the musicians of Northumberland, to show that music is ancient and unstoppable, and that dams and lakes cannot overwhelm it.

A solitary girl with a kinship for the sea makes a wondrous discovery in a tale of identity and belonging from master storyteller David Almond. Annie Lumsden has hair that drifts like seaweed, eyes that shine like rock pools, and thoughts that dart and dance like minnows. She lives with her artist mother by the sea, where she feels utterly at home, and has long felt apart from the other girls at school. Words and numbers on the page don’t make sense to her, and strange maladies have been springing up that the doctors can’t explain. Annie’s mother says that all things can be turned into tales, and often she tells her daughter stories about the rocks she paints like faces, or the smoke that wafts from chimneys, or who Annie’s dad is. But one day Annie asks her mother for a different tale, something with better truth in it—and on that same day a stranger in town, drawn to the sight of a girl who seems akin to the sea, helps Annie understand how special she is. Featuring Beatrice Alemagna’s expressive illustrations, this enchanting coming-of-age tale by the award-winning David Almond borrows from lore and flirts at the edges of mystery.

Transcending its time and period, this moving and lyrical story, beautifully illustrated, explores the fear and hope of children in time of war. I am just a child. How can I be at war? It’s 1918, and war is everywhere. John’s father is fighting in the trenches far away in France, while his mother works in a menacing munitions factory just along the road. His teacher says that John is fighting, too, that he is at war with enemy children in Germany who seem to be much like him. One day, in the wild woods outside town, John has an impossible moment: a dreamlike meeting with a German boy named Jan. John catches a glimpse of a better world, in which children like Jan and himself can one day scatter the seeds of peace. David Almond brings his ineffable sensibility to a poignant and ultimately hopeful tale of the effects of war on children, interwoven with David Litchfield’s gorgeous black-and-white illustrations.

Award-winning author David Almond pens the dreamlike tale of a boy rediscovering joy and beauty within and around him, even amid sorrow. One hot summer morning, only weeks after his father’s death, Davie steps out his front door into the familiar streets of the Tyneside town that has always been his home. But this seemingly ordinary day takes on an air of mystery and tragedy as the residents learn that a boy has been killed. Despite the threat of a murderer on the loose, Davie turns away from the gossip and sets off toward the sunlit hill above town, where the real and imaginary worlds begin to blur around him. As he winds his way up the hillside, Davie sees things that seem impossible but feel utterly right, that renew his wonder and instill him with hope. Full of the intense excitement of growing up, David Almond’s tale leaves both the reader and Davie astonished at the world and eager to explore it.

There’s a poltergeist in Joe Quinn’s house, and Davie is determined to discover its source in this lively, hopeful graphic storybook from David Almond and Dave McKean. Joe Quinn has been telling everyone about the poltergeist in his house, but no one believes him. No one, that is, except Davie. Davie’s felt the inexplicable presence in the Quinns’ house and seen random objects fly through the air. And there’s something else . . . a memory of Davie’s beloved sister and a feeling deep down that it might just be possible for ghosts to exist. Full of thoughts of hauntings and grief and God, Davie hovers on a precipice of uncertainty and possibility, a space that storyteller David Almond occupies comfortably and returns to again and again — here paired once more with the dynamic, dreamlike mixed-media art of Dave McKean.

A darkly twisted detective ghost tale, from the winner of the Guardian Children''s Book Prize. Davie travels his small town in search of a supposed murderer. But the landscape soon starts to blur into something dark and twisted. He must make sense of the landscape, if he has any chance of finding answers. The people he encounters on his travels don''t seem entirely real either. Then he meets the victim of the murder ... but, is he dead, or alive?

When a boy is assumed to have been killed, Davie thinks he might know who is responsible. He turns away from the gossip and excitement to the sunlit summit at the top of the town where what''s real and imaginary begin to blur, but also where he begins to realize that amid immorality, there can be kindness, and in darkness, there is a chance for hope.

The Coming Baby Boomer Crisis and How to Protect Yourself! Many quality books address exclusively long-term care insurance. This book is not one of them. Although creative long-term care insurance options are covered, the content focuses on how to protect retirees from their two main concerns which are running out of money and the high cost of healthcare. There is a 70% chance we will need long-term care sometime in our life which is the number one reason people go broke in retirement. The Coming Baby Boomer Crisis helps put you in control by sharing the secrets few people know, such as: How to protect yourself against running out of money when faced with the high cost of healthcare even if you don’t own traditional long-term care insurance. When there is Still Time to Plan Ahead When there is still time, it is essential to have a long-term care pre-planning line of attack which is critical as we age. This book will provide you with creative financial strategies you can use to protect your life savings and stay financially independent. When Your Family is in a Long-Term Care Crisis The good news is, as of now, you can protect your assets even if you or a loved one is currently in a care facility and does not have long-term care insurance. There is much misinformation out there, for example, a person has to spend down to $2,000 before they will receive help from the state and the federal government. NOT TRUE. The Coming Baby Boomer Crisis and How to Protect Yourself will reveal ways you can receive benefits and still keep all or much of your savings while maintaining your dignity and financial independence.

Bert and Betty Brown have got themselves a little angel. Bert found him in his top pocket when he was driving his bus. Bert and Betty''s friends think he is lovely. So do Nancy and Jack and Alice from Class 5K. What a wonder! But Acting Head Teacher Mrs Mole is not so sure. Nor is Professor Smellie. Or the mysterious bloke in black who claims to be a School Inspector. Then there''s Basher Malone - big, lumbering Basher Malone. He really does not like Angelino. And it looks like he is out to get him ...

When the handsome and strange Orpheus strolls onto the beach and sings, good friends Claire and Ella each find a new understanding of themselves.

These beautifully-written stories grow out of David Almond''s childhood in the streets and fields of Tyneside. They''re funny and sad, realistic and strange, and are suffused with a profound sense of mystery and wonder. They show that the ordinary world is filled with extraordinary possibilities, that the local really does contain the universal. In Counting Stars David Almond tackles the themes common to his work - joy, darkness, love, death and identity - with exquisite sensitivity and tenderness. A must-read for Almond fans everywhere. From the author of the modern children''s classic Skellig - winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children''s Book Award. David Almond won the 2015 Guardian Children''s Book Prize with A Song for Ella Grey.

Synopsis coming soon.......

Master storyteller David Almond presents a beautiful collection of short fiction, interwoven with pieces that illuminate the inspiration behind the stories. May Malone is said to have a monster in her house, but what Norman finds there may just be the angel he needs. Joe Quinn’s house is noisy with poltergeists, or could it be Davie’s raging causing the disturbance? Fragile Annie learns the truth about herself in a photograph taken by a traveling man near the sea. Set in the northern English Tyneside country of the author’s childhood, these eight short stories by the incomparable David Almond evoke gritty realities and ineffable longings, experiences both ordinary and magical. In autobiographical preludes to each story, the writer shows how all things can be turned into tales, reflecting on a time of wonder, tenderness, and joy.

Paul believes that the moon is not the moon, but is a great hole in the sky. It''s one of many strange ideas that he''s never told anyone (at school he was told that he had no ideas at all), until he meets Molly, his irrepressible neighbour, who begins to convince him that his theory might just change the world.

International award winner David Almond draws on memories of his early years in Tyneside, England, for a moving coming-of-age novel, masterfully told. A gentle visionary coming of age in the shadow of the shipyards of northern England, Dominic Hall is torn between extremes. On the one hand, he craves the freedom he feels when he steals away with the eccentric girl artist next door, Holly Stroud—his first and abiding love—to balance above the earth on a makeshift tightrope. With Holly, Dom dreams of a life different in every way from his shipbuilder dad’s, a life fashioned of words and images and story. On the other hand, he finds himself irresistibly drawn to the brutal charms of Vincent McAlinden, a complex bully who awakens something wild and reckless and killing in Dom. In a raw and beautifully crafted bildungsroman, David Almond reveals the rich inner world of a boy teetering on the edge of manhood, a boy so curious and open to impulse that we fear for him and question his balance—and ultimately exult in his triumphs.

A psychic reading is a specific attempt to discern information through the use of heightened perceptive abilities; or natural extensions of the basic human senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and instinct. There are many types of psychic readings practiced. Although psychic readings might not incorporate the use of any tools, a professional psychic may have one or more specialized areas of expertise. Some of the more common readings include Tarot reading, email psychic reading, palm reading, psychometry, aura readings, or astrological readings. This ebook by David Almond will give a brief explanation on free psychic love reading, for more information visit: http://freepsychiclovereadingonline.com/ask-a-free-psychic-love-question/

Michael and his family have just moved into an old house. One afternoon while her parents care for her sick sister, Michael sneaks the ramshackle garage. There he discovers Skellig, an extraordinary creature who needs help to survive. Along with Mina

With fascination, Davie and his friend Geordie watch the arrival of a new boy, Stephen Rose, in their town. He seems to have come from nowhere, and when he arrives to live with his distant aunt, the local Crazy Mary, no one envies his new home. But perhaps he''s the answer to Davie and Geordie''s prayers - a secret weapon in their war against monstrous Mouldy and his gang. Intrigued, Davie and Geordie befriend Stephen. But they are heading innocently down a path that brings with it a monster of an entirely unexpected nature. Their encounter with the mysterious Stephen is as incredible as it is menacing, and as the true story of Stephen''s past slowly emerges, Davie''s life is changed for ever... A stunning novel from the author of the modern children''s classic Skellig - winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children''s Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award.

Kit has just moved to Stoneygate with his family, to live with his ageing grandfather who is gradually succumbing to Alzheimer''s Disease. Stoneygate is an insular place, scarred by its mining history - by the danger and death it has brought them. Where the coal mine used to be there is now a wilderness. Here Kit meets Askew, a surly and threatening figure who masterminds the game called Death, a frightening ritual of hypnotism; and Kit makes friends with Allie, the clever school troublemaker. As Kit struggles to adjust to his new life and the gradual failing of his beloved grandfather, these two friendships pull him towards a terrifying resolution. Haunted by ghosts of the past, Kit must confront death and - ultimately - life. A stunning novel from the author of the modern children''s classic Skellig - winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children''s Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award.

There he was, below the bridge, half-naked, eyes blazing. He had a pair of burning torches. He ran them back and forth across his skin. He sipped from a bottle, breathed across a torch, and fire and fumes leapt from his lips. The air was filled with the scent of paraffin. He breathed again, a great high spreading flag of fire. He glared. He roared like an animal. That summer, life had seemed perfect for Bobby Burns. But now it''s autumn and the winds of change are blowing hard. Bobby''s dad is mysteriously ill. His new school is a cold and cruel place. And worse: nuclear war may be about to start. But Bobby has a wonder-working friend called Ailsa Spink. And he''s found the fire-eater, a devil called McNulty. What can they do together on Bobby''s beach? Is it possible to work miracles? Will they be able to transform the world? A stunning novel from the author of the modern children''s classic Skellig - winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children''s Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award.

Every summer Liam and Max roam the wild countryside of Northumberland - but this year things are different. One hot summer''s day a jackdaw leads the two boys into an ancient farm house where they find a baby, wrapped in a blanket, with a scribbled note pinned to it: PLESE LOOK AFTER HER RITE. THIS IS A CHILDE OF GOD. And so begins Jackdaw Summer. A summer when friendships are tested. A summer when lines between good and bad are blurred. A summer that Liam will never forget... A stunning novel from the author of the modern children''s classic Skellig - winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children''s Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award.