My Name is Mina
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4.5 • 21 Ratings
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
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?
And so Mina writes and writes in her notebook, and here is her journal, Mina's life in Mina's own words: her stories and dreams, experiences and thoughts, her scribblings and nonsense, poems and songs. Her vivid account of her vivid life.
In this stunning book, David Almond revisits Mina before she has met Michael, before she has met Skellig.
Shortlisted for the 2012 Carnegie Medal.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
“Weird, how can I feel so frail and tiny sometimes, and other times so brave and bold and reckless and free, and... Does everybody feel the same?” Mina, the exceptional misfit heroine of David Almond’s new book, lives to explore the mysteries of the universe and question the “average” way of doing things. After a creative writing evaluation lands Mina in hot water, her free-spirited mother decides to homeschool her. As Mina indulges her curiosity about birds, language and creative souls like William Blake and Paul Klee, young readers—and their parents—will delight in following the threads of her swirling, humorous thoughts. Almond celebrates the power of imagination—throughout this wonderful book, he entices us with the Extraordinary Activities that Mina uses to channel her intelligence and creativity.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This intimate prequel to Skellig is built around Mina McKee, the curious and brilliant home-schooled child who eventually befriends that book's protagonist, Michael. Mina, a budding writer, reveals her love of words in her journal; most of the book unfolds in a handwritten-looking font, with Mina's more emphatic entries exploding onto the pages in massive display type. Her lyrical, nonlinear prose records her reflections on her past, existential musings ("The human body is 65 percent water. Two-thirds of me is constantly disappearing, and constantly being replaced. So most of me is not me at all!"), and self-directed writing exercises ("I'll try to make my words break out of the cages of sadness, and make them sing for joy"). 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. Her gradual emergence from the protective shell of home is beautifully portrayed as she gingerly ventures out into the world. Not as dark, but just as passionate as Almond's previous works, this novel will inspire children to let their imaginations soar. Ages 10 up.
Customer Reviews
Beautiful
This is so much better than Skellig... it's real and crazy and beautifully written. But although I definitely prefer this, I recommend you read Skellig before this as it will make more sense. Well done David Almond!