The Printz Award–winning classic gets a new look.
Written in haunting, lyrical prose, Kit’s Wilderness examines the bonds of family from one generation to the next, and explores how meaning and beauty can be revealed from the depths of darkness.
The Watson family moves to Stoneygate, an old coal-mining town, to care for Kit’s recently widowed grandfather. When Kit meets John Askew, another boy whose family has both worked and died in the mines, Askew invites Kit to join him in playing a game called Death. As Kit’s grandfather tells him stories of the mine’s past and the history of the Watson family, Askew takes Kit into the mines, where the boys look to find the childhood ghosts of their long-gone ancestors.
A Michael L. Printz Award Winner
An ALA Notable Book
A Publishers Weekly Best Book
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Like David Almond's 1998 Whitbread-winning Skellig, this powerful, eerie, elegantly written novel celebrates the magic that is part of our existence--the magic that occurs when we dream at night, the magic that connects us to family long gone, the magic that connects humans to the land, and us all to each other. As Kit's grandfather puts it, "the tales and memories and dreams that keep the world alive."
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
"It was very deep, Kit. Very dark. And every one of us was scared of it. As a lad I'd wake up trembling, knowing that as a Watson born in Stoneygate I'd soon be following my ancestors into the pit".
The Watson family moves to Stoneygate, an old coal-mining town, to care for Kit's recently widowed grandfather. When Kit meets John Askew, another boy whose family has both worked and died in the mines, Askew invites Kit to join him in a game called Death. As Kit's grandfather tells him stories of the mine's past and the history of the Watson family, Askew takes Kit into the mines, where the boys look for the childhood ghosts of their long-gone ancestors.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Seller: SecondSale, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Condition: Very Good. Item in very good condition! Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00074731183
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: SecondSale, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Condition: Acceptable. Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00058661542
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: SecondSale, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00028424631
Quantity: 10 available
Seller: Your Online Bookstore, Houston, TX, U.S.A.
Mass Market Paperback. Condition: Fair. Seller Inventory # 0440416051-4-26224747
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Better World Books, Mishawaka, IN, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Reprint. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # 3275183-75
Quantity: 2 available
Seller: Better World Books: West, Reno, NV, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Reprint. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # 10078155-6
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: BooksRun, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.
Mass Market Paperback. Condition: Good. Reprint. Ship within 24hrs. Satisfaction 100% guaranteed. APO/FPO addresses supported. Seller Inventory # 0440416051-11-1
Quantity: 2 available
Seller: Zoom Books Company, Lynden, WA, U.S.A.
Condition: good. Book is in good condition and may contain underlining or highlighting and minimal wear. The book can also include library labels. May not contain miscellaneous items toys, dvds, etc . We offer 100% money back guarantee and fast customer support. Seller Inventory # 5AAT2I004WUR_ns
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Once Upon A Time Books, Siloam Springs, AR, U.S.A.
Mass Market Paperback. Condition: Good. This is a used book in good condition and may show some signs of use or wear . This is a used book in good condition and may show some signs of use or wear . Seller Inventory # mon0001085765
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Wonder Book, Frederick, MD, U.S.A.
Condition: As New. Like New condition. A near perfect copy that may have very minor cosmetic defects. Seller Inventory # F28I-01046
Quantity: 2 available