Books for Young People

Skellig by David Almond

Michael and his family move into a new house…a house that is larger than their old one but needs a ton of work, it is a bit run down. The move was prompted by the need for more space when Michael’s mother has a baby. The baby is premature and faces some major health challenges.  Understandably Michael’s parents are consumed with their infant’s survival and Michael is left to his own devices.

As he is exploring the house, the garden and its garage he discovers a homeless man living in his garage. The man lives his filthy, lives on bugs and a bit scary.  His name is Skellig. Michael is an immediately likable character but the fact that he keeps Skellig a secret from his parents is a bit of a stretch. 

 

The book is part spiritual journey for the entire family as they face the possibility that their beloved baby may not survive.  Unfortunately, I think the author plays it a bit too safe in his exploration of spirituality and angels.  I would have liked the life and history of the Skellig character to have been more developed and explored. That being said, I would still share it with young readers…probably third or fourth graders but no older.

Michael is twelve years old, lives in his new house with his mom, dad and baby sister, who is very sick with a weak heart. One day while in the garage in his backyard, Michael finds an odd creature, a man, with a squeaky voice, bugs crawling all over him and tattered clothes.



The Aviary by Kathleen O’Dell
Another good middle school read. The story centers on 12-old Clara Dooley who has grown up at the Glendoveer mansion, a large, crumbling house filled with locked rooms and full of secrets. Clara's mother is one of two care-takers of both the mansion and its elderly Matron, Mrs Glendoveer. Of course there is an Aviary and at first the birds are both creepy and obnoxious. When Mrs Glendoveer dies the mystery of her past starts to come to life, literally.  It seems there were once six Glendoveer children who were kidnapped; all but one are found dead and their father, Mr. Glendoveer, is rumored to be the murderer.   Clara and a secret friend  unveil the mystery of the Glendoveer children with the help of the birds. The Glendoveer’s were a family famous for magic and some pretty amazing magic is at the center of the book. Its full of twists and surprises.

The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter
I am always looking for compelling reads for middle school children and I found a great one in Ellen Potter’s the Kneebone Boy. At the heart of the story are the three Hardscrabble children who are, at least according to the other children in the small village of Little Tunks England,  a bit odd. There is Otto, the oldest. Otto doesn’t speak and communicates in a sign language  that he and his sister Lucia developed. He stopped speaking when his mother disappeared seven years earlier. Otto continually wears a scarf around his neck and even his teachers know better than to ask him to take it off; no one knows why he wears the scarf, they just know it is important to him.  Lucia is the middle child; she has an amazing imagination that tends to get the Hardscrabble children in trouble from time to time. Then there is Max, the youngest. He has panache for finding things, all sorts of things, as well as possessing a great memory.  The story is narrated by one of the three Hardscrabble children but the reader is kept in the dark about which of the three is actually telling the tale.
 Casper Hardscrabble, the father of the family is a portrait painter. He paints portraits of kings, queens, dukes and duchesses who have lost their kingdoms.  This is a significant clue and a touching reference to revelations that come later in the book (no spoiler here). 
Casper frequently travels for his work and often must leave the kids with a less then kind neighbor. When lucky, the kids get to stay with one of their aunts in London.  A trip to the aunt is where this adventure begins.  When they get off the train in London the aunt is nowhere in sight and they learn she has left the country. After a few minor run-ins with less than savory characters, Max recalls his father receiving letters from a great Aunt Haddie from a place called Snoring-by-the-Sea.  So off the kids head to find this place and their unknown aunt. Well, Snoring isn’t  home only to the aunt but to the secluded and some say haunted Kneebone Castle, a Kneebone mini-castle as well as few interesting characters both real and mysterious. The book weaves together two mysteries: the disappearance of the children’s mother and the mystery of the Kneebone Boy.  To write much more will give it away.   A wonderful story about family life, fears and the enduring love of a mother, even in the most difficult of circumstances .