My Name is Mina

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The family struggles with deciding on a name for the baby. After considering calling her Persephone, they settle on Joy. As it suited her and her appearance. Explore the work of the sculptor Antony Gormley. Angel of the North is particularly relevant to the text and will provide inspiration for pupils to sculpt their own small-scale versions from clay. I couldn't put it down! Seriously, I cut myself off from society to read it (basically barricading myself in my room, refusing to get out until I read it all) This has got to be one of the best books I've ever read in my life! This book really makes you think about how the world works, how people would see things that we take for granted; like 'Dust'. I love Mina, a misunderstood little girl, who just wanted to be free. I loved the way Mr Almond wrote this book, how he put things how they ... Choose one bird of prey to research as the basis for a report, include some detailed drawings of the bird and also write a story in the first person, or a diary entry in role as the bird. Perhaps invent a new bird of prey and imagine you are the first person to see it. Award-winning author David Almond reintroduces readers to the perceptive, sensitive Mina before the events of Skellig in this lyrical and fantastical work. My Name is Mina is not only a pleasure to read, it is an intimate and enlightening look at a character whose open mind and heart have much to teach us about life, love, and the mysteries that surround us.

There’s an empty notebook lying on the table in the moonlight. It’s been there for an age. I keep on saying that I’ll write a journal. So I’ll start right here, right now. I open the book and write the very first words: My name is Mina and I love the night. Then what shall I write? I can’t just write that this happened then this happened then this happened to boring infinitum. I’ll let my journal grow just like the mind does, just like a tree or a beast does, just like life does. Why should a book tell a tale in a dull straight line? Hiryu Rin • Ibara Shiozaki • Itsuka Kendo • Juzo Honenuki • Jurota Shishida • Kinoko Komori • Kojiro Bondo • Kosei Tsuburaba • Manga Fukidashi • Neito Monoma • Nirengeki Shoda • Pony Tsunotori • Reiko Yanagi • Sen Kaibara • Setsuna Tokage • Shihai Kuroiro • Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu • Togaru Kamakiri • Yosetsu Awase • Yui Kodai a b Eccleshare, Julia (30 September 2011). "Guardian children's fiction prize: the shortlist". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 11 July 2012. My name is” is singular while “ My names are” is plural. When stating your name, you’re talking about one person which is you. Therefore, you must use a singular verb ‘ is’ to introduce yourself as opposed to a plural verb ‘ are’.David Almond: Orpheus helped me write A Song for Ella Grey". David Almond. The Guardian. 19 November 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2015. Starred Review. Almond gives readers a vivid picture of the joyfully free-form workings of Mina's mind and her mixed emotions about being an isolated child... this novel will inspire children to let their imaginations soar." - Publishers Weekly Steven: When you were younger, using the library in Felling, was there a particular author or genre you would choose to read, and did your reading preferences change a lot as you got older or do you still like the same genres now?

A joyous celebration of what it means to be young and alive and enquiring… beautifully written and imaginatively presented.’ TES Mirror the stylistic features to help children really appeal to their audience. For example, ‘Are you afraid at night of something terrible living in your garage? Do you fear you will be Skellig’s next meal? Well don’t despair, just follow these instructions to help you create the perfect meal!’ Constructing an argument David Almond has been described as a magic realist, but everything in his novels happens in children's real lives in the north-east of England, past and present, or is a product of their imaginations and their response to the world. Any magic, therefore, is rooted in reality. Skellig has survived on a diet of mini beasts and rainwater. When Michael asks him what he would like, he replies ‘27 and 53’, which Michael identifies as coming from a Chinese takeaway menu. I read widely. I read all kinds of things. I think I was the same when I was younger. I just used to go in and browse. When I was reading the children’s selection then I moved to the older sections, I would read a lot about ghosts and spirits and that kind of stuff – I was fascinated by ghosts and parapsychology so I would look for that. I read novels, poetry and I remember the moment when I first read Ernest Hemingway. I was in Felling library – this shows the influence of a good library – I was in that library and I remember taking the book off the shelf, it was a book of short stories by Hemingway. I felt that suddenly when I started reading it, I had grown up as a reader. I think I was about 15 and I fell in love with those kinds of books.Almond's major awards include the Hans Christian Andersen Award, Carnegie Medal ( Skellig); [12] two Whitbread Awards; the U.S. Michael L. Printz Award for young-adult books ( Kit's Wilderness); [a] the Smarties Prize, ages 9–11 years ( The Fire-Eaters); the U.S. Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, Children's Fiction ( The Fire-Eaters); the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize ( A Song for Ella Grey);

I have been an aesthetic therapist for the past 17 years. In that time I’ve had many roles, from laser therapist, to head therapist and trainer at a leading medical London spa, to the first UK national trainer for Biologique Recherche. The names of my characters are really important. Some of them come along with names already fully formed like Mina from Skellig; she came with her name, I don’t know anybody called Mina but there she was. Then some characters like Skellig I found half-way through the book. His name until that point was Mr Wilson – a terrible name for him! Some names I spend a lot of time finding; a good place to find names is the telephone directory because you can find some fantastic surnames, and then I have lots of baby names books which I use as well. The Skellig prequel My Name is Mina (Hodder, 2010) was a finalist for three major annual awards: the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, [15]Mina is the only girl in her class to wear shorts under her skirt, which is implied to be so that she can breakdance while in her school uniform. Mina is considered one of the stronger students in Class 1-A, having the best reflexes among the girls.

Starred Review. This book stands very much alone, but the sense of wonder that pervades the smallest details of everyday life remains familiar." - BooklistCarnegie Winner 1998. Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 28 February 2018. a b "David Almond in running for prestigious children's book prize 'double'". Alison Flood. The Guardian 18 March 2010. Retrieved 16 October 2012. Skellig: The Play is adapted by David Almond and remains true to the text. Why not perform short sections of the play, or get children to convert play script to narrative adding description? Meanwhile, his friends from school become more and more distant as Michael stops attending school and spends less time with them. He meets a girl named Mina from across the road and over the course of the story they become close. Mina is home-schooled and enjoys nature, birds, drawing and the poems of William Blake. Often drawing or sculpting at home, she invites Michael to join in. She takes care of some baby birds who live in her garden and teaches Michael to hear their tiny sounds. Michael decides to introduce her to the strange creature. Michael's friends, Leakey and Coot, become skeptical about Michael and try to find out what he is hiding from them. Michael and Mina try to keep it a secret from them, and have to move "Skellig" to a safer space. Work on this orally first, using role-play to try out different points of view. Then challenge pupils to either write in role as Michael or Mina in support of one point of view, or to produce a balanced discussion as a newspaper article. 4 | Crossing the curriculum Investigating bird life