Clay

Product Information

Clay is a 2005 children's/young adult novel by David Almond. It was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and longlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. [1]

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David Almond's 2006 novel, Clay, is, like many other books by this author, a tale of boyhood in northeastern England. It's the story of a young Catholic altar boy whose priest encourages him to befriend Stephen Rose, the strange new boy in town, who was thrown out of the seminary for mysterious reasons. As Davie, the story's protagonist, spends more and more time with the newcomer, he finds that the boy possesses strange and dangerous powers, powers that enable him to create life from ordinary clay, powers which he might intend to use for ill rather than for good. She catches the human lives just as well. She is gentle with her characters; she understands them, and their relationships with each other, and their love of the park. The relationships between the generations are particularly well drawn. Sophia and her daughter try to understand each other, but their differences mean that they never quite meet. The friendship between Jozef and TC grows beautifully. It's difficult for me to comment on this book. Based on the description, it should have been a five for me. Disturbing, thought-provoking. Original...In this slim book, we're challenged to re-examine our beliefs as Davir is challenged.The introduction to the book says –“To many of my students, “architectural jewelry” sounds intimidating. However, this book teaches easy ways to create the illusion of perspective, and shows how to construct complex pieces without using measuring tools. Indoor and outdoor scenes are created using techniques of hollow forms and low relief. Two projects – “A Room of My Own” and “Transamerica Ring” – are presented in great detail, so it is recommended to make them before proceeding to further pendants and rings.” Hadar Jacobson – The Handbook of Metal Clay: Textures and Forms David Almond is an award winning author and one of the finest writing for young adults today. Clay is recommended for children over 11, but it’s a novel that may be read and enjoyed (and marvelled at) as much by adults. I enjoyed it up until the very end, but I hated the relentlessly brutal ending. Harrison favors "realism" over hope, which I recognize is as valid an outlook as any, so this is an emotional response. And I saw rather too much of the workings of the plot. There were many moments when spotted something that I knew would be significant and I knew why it would be significant. I was right. As this is, it's a faithful representation of Frankenstein that is accessible to kids. But... there was just something that made me wonder whether the message is only that.

Clay (novel) - Wikipedia

His first children's novel, Skellig (1998), set in Newcastle, won the Whitbread Children's Novel of the Year Award and also the Carnegie Medal. His subsequent novels are: Kit's Wilderness (1999), Heaven Eyes (2000), Secret Heart (2001), The Fire Eaters (2003) and Clay (2005). His first play aimed at adolescents, Wild Girl, Wild Boy, toured in 2001 and was published in 2002.The ending, sadly, was a let down, with most of the characters (or their lives) returning to how they were at the start. I really wish her editor had worked with her on this as I was bitterly disappointed that some characters had either failed to grow or society had prevented them from doing so which left me wondering what was the point? But things start getting strange, and Stephen comes between the friends as he entices Davie to join him, modeling clay into -- a person. Stephen seems to have the power of creating life from inanimate clay. While this horrifies Davie, it inspires Stephen to more and more daring feats.

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I would not teach this in my classroom. However, if I had to I would connect it to Frankenstein somehow. I do not see how you could teach this book without making a reference to God, and how Stephen and Frankenstein are somewhat taking over the role of God by creating a living being. Then, out of the blue, Stephen kisses Davie on the cheek. It's random, and the characters all make fun of Davie about it, and Davie doesn't deny it happened. This event also occurs when Stephen has witnessed Davie kiss Maria. He also says, "Don't bother with the lass," moments before, because he wants Davie to hang out with him instead and learn about his powers. I'm from New Zealand so I like my free stuff. I feel like a failure if I fill my plate less than four times at a buffet, and at a wedding or work Christmas party it's rare to find me with fewer than two drinks in my hands at any one time. This novel being the first Goodreads freebie I've read, I was hoping it'd be a five star gem for me. Not sure how it works - if I give a bad review will I not win free books again?? Melissa Harrison’s first novel weaves together a human story of four people whose lives are changed when their paths cross with the story of the seasons changing in a city centre park that those four people all love.What to say about CLAY? I think Brent said it best: Frankenstein meets Demian, meets The Outsiders, with a twist of the old Golem story. David and his best friend Geordie have it pretty good...they steal scramental wine from the church and cigarettes from their dads. They run the neighborhood, looking out for Mouldy, the school bully. They lead a typical life, until Stephen Rose comes to town. Time passes, seasons change and relationships shift as Melissa Harrison tells her story in lovely, lyrical prose. It was adapted for television in 2008 by Andrew Gunn, first aired on BBC One on 30 March 2008, and later rebroadcast another 9 times on BBC HD. [2] Plot [ edit ] The book is also very harrowing at times, particularly a scene where TC witnesses some youths organising a dogfight, and I did find my eyes starting to water towards the end. The tone put me in mind of the movies of Shane Meadows ("Somers Town" and "This is England", for example). Clay is a novel that connects three people through their love of being outside and of the small space within the centre of the city, a small park and the close by common. A small boy, a seventy eight year old woman and a man who dreams of his old farm in his home land, TC, Sophia and Jozef. They all go about their own ways, spending each day as it comes, whether its TC skipping school or Sophia writing her letters to her granddaughter or even Jozef spending his time between working and the park. They all have their own troubles, their own problems in the world that they shoulder themselves, but they are all aware of each other, the little bubbles of their world moving to cross within each other every so often, TC and Jozef more often than not.