From the stunning cover art hinted at by the faux-die-cut jacket to a last glimpse of the louche and negligent gods and the wolf lurking in the darkness deep underground, a fascinating, provocative collaboration. You could say that this is Almond and McKean's most beautiful effort yet, but just know that beautiful has its own dark and wondrous meaning in their hands. The final picture within this graphic novel for me sums up my thoughts about the meaning of the book – lurking in the darkness we see two red eyes staring up at the world the Gods created, waiting for its time to surface…again! I would recommend this book because it has good pictures to go along with the story and really let's you see what is going on in the story. The contorted beauty of McKean's figures and Almond's intense, twisty narrative will keep readers right on the edge of comfort before the clouds clear.

His first book, Sleepless Nights, a collection of short stories for adults, was published in 1985 and was followed in 1997 by a second volume, A Kind of Heaven. He is known worldwide as the multi- award-winning author of Skellig , Clay , and many other novels, stories, and plays, including two previous titles illustrated by Dave McKean. The words and the Illustrations work in harmony with one another and cause this book to have an endearing, breathtaking quality to it – a story that is accessible for all…it’s something very special indeed. His major awards include The Carnegie Medal, two Whitbreads, The Michael L Printz Award, Le Prix Sorcieres, The Nonino International Prize, The James Kruss Award and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.

A play, Wild Girl, Wild Boy, was published in March 2002, and a stage version of Skellig was published in April 2002 to coincide with the National Theatre’s production of the play. After graduating he worked as a teacher for five years before moving to a remote artists’ commune in Norfolk to concentrate on his writing. Even I struggled to understand the story that was intentionally 'written on many levels' as described by CLPE. Dave McKean is a world-renowned artist, designer, and film director who has illustrated several books for children, including Coraline , The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish , and The Wolves in the Walls , all by Neil Gaiman, and two prior titles by David Almond.

However Harry and Sue have got eaten by a wolf because they didn't listen to Little Ben's advice not to make the wolf.That’s until Harry, Sue and Little Ben begin to fill the gaps of the world: with a mousy thing, a chirpy thing and a twisty legless thing.

The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. David Almond is the winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the most prestigious award in international children's literature. The story in itself is a wonderfully crafted delight, it’s concept and execution by David Almond is masterful as you would expect, which highlights the impact of the story. This is something that is dealt with delicately by Almond and McKean but it’s something that has stuck with me – the struggle between good (Gods) and Evil (Wolf) – which in essence this evil (Wolf) was created by humans, it wasn’t intended to be, it was never part of the master plan – the Gods never intended this evil to roam the world…but now it has been let loose, can anyone put it back?There is the fable like quality to Mouse Bird Snake Wolf which can be found in many of Almond’s works – in particular I found it interesting that the last thing that the children create given that they were free to make anything they wanted was a monstrous wolf. Harry, Sue and Little Ben are our main protagonists, who spend their days walking, climbing and exploring this world that is quite like our own – but a little bit unfinished.

Wild and alive, this visually extravagant fable of the marvel, power and active nature of the creative process howls at the moon. That's until Harry, Sue and Little Ben begin to fill the gaps of the world: with a mousy thing, a chirpy thing and a twisty legless thing. David Almond’s books are strange, unsettling wild things – unfettered by the normal constraints of children’s literature.No spoilers, but it built tension wonderfully, and I enjoyed what happened to two of the children, as I think children's fiction can sometimes shy away from fully embracing the consequences of a characters actions.