The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean - Hardcover

Almond, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0141332042 ISBN 13: 9780141332048

Publisher: Puffin Books, 2011

Synopsis

I wos a secrit shy and tungtied emptyheded thing. I wos tort to read and rite and spell by my tenda littl muther & by Mr McCaufrey the butcha & by Missus Malone and her gosts. So I am not cleva, so please forgiv my folts and my mistayks. I am the won that glares into your harts & that prowls insyde yor deepist dremes. Wonce I was The Anjel Childe. Now I am The Monster. Just read and lissen and take note. Let the words enter yor blud & boans. I am Billy Dean. This is the truth. This is my tale.

About this title

About the Author:

David Almond is the author of Skellig, Clay, The Savage and many other novels, stories and plays. His work is translated into over thirty languages and is widely adapted for stage and screen. His major awards include the Hans Christian Andersen Award 2010, the Carnegie Medal, two Whitbreads and the Michael L. Printz Award (USA). He was born in Newcastle, grew up on Tyneside and now lives with his family in Northumberland.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* At the very moment the bombs of the next war began exploding on the island of Blinkbonny, a child was born: Billy Dean, whose birth was seen by his priest father as a miracle. Hoping to raise a saint, his father ordains that the boy be brought up in secret. Then, when Billy is 13, a family calamity forces him to take his first steps into the light. From the first page, readers will know they’re in the presence of a master of dialect—“He grew up with birds & mise as friends. He wos a secrit shy & thick & tungtied emptyheded thing.” Almond’s command of Billy’s struggling English is a tour-de-force, even when the plot wanders away from full engagement. It is, at least, a passionately unusual story, involving Billy’s “speshal site,” which is co-opted by a local spirit medium. Soon Billy is a reluctant “Ayngle Childe,” whose fame as a healer begins to spread off of the island. Throughout, Almond’s details are fierce and bizarre, from the “book” Billy crafts from rat skins to the fragments of a Jesus statue he and his mother uncover from church ruins. Both of Billy’s parents are powerful characters—one of light, one of darkness—and, of course, there is Billy himself, an absolutely unforgettable creation. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: One of the most critically acclaimed YA authors working today, Almond refuses to rest on his laurels, and here he delivers his finest book in years. Expect raves, then demands. Grades 9-12. --Daniel Kraus

About this edition

• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0141332042
• ISBN 13: 9780141332048
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320