Candy's first novel for primary school children, Tall Story, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal, the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Branford Boase Prize. Her second book, Shine, was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Book Prize, and both novels won the Crystal Kite Prize. Other books by Candy include Bone Talk, a historical novel set in the Philippines, and picture books Is It a Mermaidand Mike Falls Up. In any case, the fight scenes/violence were graphic even for kids 10-12 yrs of age, but I think this os necessary to amplify the voice and the struggles of our primary character, Samkad. I felt the inner voices telling him as he did things, even sometimes it felt like a move out of instinct. When the story starts, Samkad is most worried about receiving the Cut (something similar to circumcision that happens to boys in their tenth year on the cusp of manhood) and his slightly complicated friendship with a girl called Luki. He has never met anyone from the world outside of his tribe. Elizabeth Laird, author ofThe Garbage King. A wonderful novel ... will stay with me for a long time. Samkad’s story is told so sensitively, so lightly and so truthfully that you are completely transported (heart in mouth) to another time and world– until Samkad’s concerns are your concerns and you’re with him every step of the way.

Over a hundred years ago, a boy named Samkad lives with his tribe in the remote mountains of the Philippines. One day a new boy arrives in the village. He may call himself Samkad’s brother, but he brings news of people called Americans who are coming to ‘civilise’ them and bring war and destruction to Samkad’s home. Catherine Johnson, author of Sawbones .I loved Bone Talk. A really thoughtful and wonderful piece of storytelling.'It had a good plot, a good setting, a good writing style, but the main character "Samkad" was just not connecting with me, somehow. I didn't quite find myself relating to this kid. It didn't bother much to me what was happening as I was following his story. The stakes were somewhat, let's say, not too high for me to care. Despite the fact that this was about a boy waiting to get circumcised, I quite enjoyed the story and the characters. It was nice reading an own voices historical fiction set outside the US. Gourlay shows the contrast between the two boys--one who grew up in the village with his father, and the other who was sent to another region and "Americanized". An examination into the Phillipine-American War that follows a small village and a budding young man, Samkad, who is waiting for the day he will become part of the men-folk. Apart from your own book, is there another book or author you would recommend to children that you’ve enjoyed recently? I also feel like nothing really happened for the majority of this book. There was a slight adventure at the end, and a plot twist that I wasn't expecting, but didn't really satisfy me all too much. I didn't see any message in this book, except maybe "you don't need a cut to be a man" which was kind of a rubbish message.

Beth Goodyear, The Scotsman ‘Great Reads to Entertain and Inspire DevelopingMinds’. Candy Gourlay is a master storyteller, capable of transporting her readers competelyinto her world … Bone Talk is a richly wrought novel that feels cinematic in scope. Thereader is transported to a different time and place and feels completely engulfed bythe sights, sounds and smells of this lost wilderness. Candy Gourlay tells this brilliant adventure story from the point of view of a young Filipino boy from a time and place that most readers will know nothing about– and certainly from a previously unheard voice (most of what is written about the time is by Americans writing as tourists, anthropologists and conquerors). I was pleased to see that Is It A Mermaid? was chosen by Empathy Lab for their 2019 Read for Empathy Guide. Can you tell us a little bit more about the inspiration behind the story and the process of working with Francesca Chessa, the illustrator?Jill Murphy, The Bookbag. A gripping adventure story and a fascinating piece of historical fiction but you never, ever forget that it's the story of Samkad, a boy you believe could be your friend.Highly recommended. Read the whole review How would you envisage teachers using ‘Bone Talk’ in their classrooms? Is there an age group that the book would work particularly well with? Do any activities or ideas spring to mind? That being said Candy's use of language is impressive. The descriptions are beautiful and a picture is painted for you so its easy to imagine this place that feels so removed from the world we see around us now. You often tell your stories through the use of dual narratives. Why is this? When writing dual narratives, do you write the stories alongside each other, at the same time, or write one at a time? What does the planning process look like? Ms. Gourlay claims that Bone Talk is not history. True, but fiction can lead readers to a broader understanding of other disciplines and life lessons embedded in the material either intentionally or otherwise. In the end, I realized, that while Samkad earned his rightful place in the village, it is his father who learned a great lesson as well. This for me is the most beautiful part of the novel.

Rich in the customs of the Bontok culture, with its paddy fields, sacrifices to ancestral spirits, and hunting and fighting with spears and axes, this fully imagines a way of life for which the records are sketchy. It also shows us a moment of change, as two worlds meet, and that it takes more than a ceremony to make a man. And then, there is Luki. Irrepressible and persistent, she is Samkad's best friend. It is through her that social class and the roles of Bontoc women are presented. How she defies and disobeys them not because she is a bad girl. Luki is smart and perceptive, protective of her family and friends. She knows who she is and where she belongs. These are all evident in the dialogues she has with Samkad implying that, even girls or women, can fight for the people and the place they love. The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course. I liked reading this one, but not at first. I was still adjusting a bit, since from reading something like Frankenstein, which is a classic and old kind of style, to something of this category, which falls in the YA and Modern genre, its a huge leap from one place to another, I would say. Bone Talk is set in the magnificent highlands of the Philippines – a region called the Cordilleras, populated by impressive folk who carved rice fields out of vertiginous mountains and, for three hundred years, repulsed invasions by both Filipino lowlanders and colonizers from Spain.Bone Talk was received well by critics and has been shortlisted for many awards, including the Costa Book Awards 2018 and the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2019. Terry Hong,Shelf Awareness/Smithsonian Book Dragon. A Filipino boy on the verge of manhood in 1899 must face mortal enemies, colonial brutality and his own headstrong, immature self to help save his remote village from annihilation. On the eve of his coming-of-age ritual, Samkad and his village find themselves on the verge of a changing world. Samdak lives with his community, the Bontok, where his life is mapped out. He will become a man, help his community, and marry. However, when he captures, then loses, one of the Mangili, the Bontok’s sworn enemy, he puts the lives of all of his peers at risk. This is where he learns the difference between being a boy and being a man. The book gave me a variety of emotions to ponder on. Some, even extreme emotions of wishing death. Lols I think it goes with the age and my angst with the kupal na Amerikano sa mundong ibabaw.

The story itself it set in three parts and follows the story of Samkad, a boy on the cusp of being initiated into manhood. The rite of passage ceremony though is brought to a halt when the old ones set a task that, ultimately, sets in motion events that change the tribe's future for all time. Together with Luki, a ferociously-willed young girl, his father and others (not wanting to give the plot away), Samkad finds his whole world changed and challenged forever. Will he have the strength and courage within to save his people and what will his people and their culture mean to him when he encounters others? This is why I love reading Candy Gourlay. She is capable, with great effect, to show her characters as they are: strong yet flawed, willful but yielding, good and bad. She does so in situations that test these characters. She makes use of images, symbols and metaphors. A music box and a book as gifts from Mister William. A gun and camera as tokens from Colonel Quinlan. This literary technique opens up discussions of a larger scale. We follow the story of Samkad, the ten-year-old son of a great warrior in the Bontok tribe who live in the magnificent highlands of the Philippines. It is set during the time of the American Invasion of 1899 and is written with breathtaking sensitivity and skill. Instead of being repulsed by the primitive ways of the tribe we a drawn into the beauty and importance of the spiritual rituals and traditions. We're with Samkad every step of the way as the world he knows, understands and loves is blown apart by the arrival of the Americans. But everything changes when a new boy arrives in the village. He calls himself Samkad’s brother, yet he knows nothing of the ways of the mountain. And he brings news of a people called ‘Americans’, who are bringing war and destruction right to his home . . . I wondered if this reflected your own perceptions of the UK before you moved here from the Phillipines? What was your experience of moving here like?When I started writing I wanted to publish picture books. I only started writing novels because it was so hard to break into the picture book world. Is It a Mermaid is a dream come true. Picture books in the UK are published with an eye to the 0 to three year old reader, and publishers make money through translations in other markets … this means many interesting challenges to the storytelling and the story itself. Writing for specific markets, you have to consider so many things as an artist – not just theme and story shape but the emotional capacity of your reader. You also have to take into account that your reader has no experience, no hindsight. This, I think, is what differentiates the young reader from an adult reader. Bone Talk is set in a period that has been allowed to fade away in many memories. In 1899, the United States invaded the Philippines. At the time there were still headhunting tribes, and my story is told from the point of view of Samkad, a ten year old boy who is looking forward to becoming a man when he will be given his own shield, his own spear and an axe to chop off the heads of his enemies. His best friend is Little Luki, who also dreams of becoming a warrior … except she’s a girl and in that society, girls do not become warriors. Then strangers begin arriving in their isolated village and slowly, they realise that the world is not what they thought it was. The cultural exploration within this little gem allows young readers to explore how others lived, happily, without western culture forcing itself on them. However, it also tells the age old story of a privileged and advanced society taking advantage of the local civilization they've invaded.