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It seems fated that 13-year-old Christopher Watson, nicknamed Kit, would move to Stoneygate, an old English coal-mining village where his ancestors lived, worked, and died. Evidence of the ancient coal pit is everywhere--depressions in the gardens, jagged cracks in the roadways, in his grandfather's old mining songs. A monument in the St. Thomas graveyard bears the name of child workers killed in the Stoneygate pit disaster of 1821, including Kit's own name--Christopher Watson, aged 13--the name of a distant uncle. At the top of this high, narrow pyramid-shaped monument is the name John Askew, the same name of Kit's classmate who takes the connection between this monument and life--and death--very seriously.
The drama unfolds as the haunted, hulking, dark-eyed John Askew draws Kit and other classmates into the game of Death, a spin-the-knife, pretend-to-die game that he hosts in a deep hole dug in the earth, with candles, bones, and carved pictures of the children of the old families of Stoneygate. Kit the writer and Askew the artist belong together, Askew keeps telling him. "Your stories is like my drawings, Kit. They take you back deep into the dark and show it lives within us still.... You see it, don't you? You're starting to see that you and me is just the same." Are they, though?
Kit's Wilderness conjures a world where the past is alive in the present and creeps into the future--a world where ancestral ghosts and even the slow-changing geology of the landscape are as tangible as lunch. Powerful images of darkness exploding into "lovely lovely light" filter throughout the story, as Almond boldly explores the dark side and unearths a joyful message of redemption. (Ages 11 and much, much older) --Karin Snelson
Praise for David Almond:
"Kit's Wilderness establishes Almond as the most exciting new voice in children's books of this decade." --Literary Review, London
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Book Description PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Shipped from UK. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # HU-9780340944967
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Kit has just moved to Stoneygate with his family, to live with his ageing grandfather who is gradually succumbing to Alzheimer's Disease. Stoneygate is an insular place, scarred by its mining history - by the danger and death it has brought them. Where the coal mine used to be there is now a wilderness. Here Kit meets Askew, a surly and threatening figure who masterminds the game called Death, a frightening ritual of hypnotism; and Kit makes friends with Allie, the clever school troublemaker. As Kit struggles to adjust to his new life and the gradual failing of his beloved grandfather, these two friendships pull him towards a terrifying resolution. Haunted by ghosts of the past, Kit must confront death and - ultimately - life.A stunning novel from the author of the modern children's classic Skellig - winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award. In Stoneygate there was a wilderness, an empty space where the coal pit had once been. There, Kit met Askew, with his wild dog Jax. Askew, who ran the game called Death . A superb book, winner of the Smarties Prize and the Michael L Printz Award. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780340944967
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9780340944967
Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. In Stoneygate there was a wilderness, an empty space where the coal pit had once been. There, Kit met Askew, with his wild dog Jax. Askew, who ran the game called Death . A superb book, winner of the Smarties Prize and the Michael L Printz Award. Seller Inventory # B9780340944967
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. No.1 BESTSELLERS - great prices, friendly customer service â" all orders are dispatched next working day. Seller Inventory # mon0000800350
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 240 pages. 7.76x5.08x0.67 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __034094496X
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 6666-HCE-9780340944967
Book Description Condition: New. In Stoneygate there was a wilderness, an empty space where the coal pit had once been. There, Kit met Askew, with his wild dog Jax. Askew, who ran the game called Death . A superb book, winner of the Smarties Prize and the Michael L Printz Award. Num Pages: 240 pages. BIC Classification: YFB. Category: (J) Children / Juvenile. Dimension: 140 x 197 x 15. Weight in Grams: 230. 2008. paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # 9780340944967