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A review by santorinirivera
My Name Is Mina by David Almond
4.0
For anyone who doesn’t know, this book is the prequel/sequel to Skellig, which I had to read for Children’s Literature this past semester.
Compared to what I remember from Skellig, Mina seems a little different. I remember not liking her very much because she came across a bit cold and arrogant. Her characterization came across as being almost simple. I don’t recall as much of her philosophical side coming out in Skellig, and I think it was because all of this was going on inside her head so the audience didn’t really get to see it. By reading this journal of sorts, I got a better understanding of who she was, and why she was so put off by school. David Almond did a brilliant job of making her more complex, and showing us a new side to her.
It took a little while to get used to Mina’s voice. She’s really young, and it was tough to believe that she was actually having these thoughts and writing this way. Once I got used to it, I fell head first into her story. I was so excited to learn more about Mina. While reading Skellig, she appeared to be very creative mostly because of the fact that she was being homeschooled. I loved seeing how she ended up being homeschooled, and what her whole situation was because I was able to empathize more with her character. Being able to experience what was going on in her head with her really let me look under the surface and see who she really was.
I loved the way she looked at the world, and all the extraordinary activities she came up with. They were all really inspiring and exactly what I needed right now in my life. Because of this, I had a deep personal connection with this book. It almost took my breath away a few times. My goal is to eventually do all of the extraordinary activities listed throughout this book. They are a little silly and could be considered childish, but they are founded on some interesting concepts that make you think about things in a different way. They also just seem like fun.
I would be very interested to see how children who have read Skellig react to this. I think this book can be very inspiring for children by showing them that they can look at things in different ways and have profound experiences because of it.
Compared to what I remember from Skellig, Mina seems a little different. I remember not liking her very much because she came across a bit cold and arrogant. Her characterization came across as being almost simple. I don’t recall as much of her philosophical side coming out in Skellig, and I think it was because all of this was going on inside her head so the audience didn’t really get to see it. By reading this journal of sorts, I got a better understanding of who she was, and why she was so put off by school. David Almond did a brilliant job of making her more complex, and showing us a new side to her.
It took a little while to get used to Mina’s voice. She’s really young, and it was tough to believe that she was actually having these thoughts and writing this way. Once I got used to it, I fell head first into her story. I was so excited to learn more about Mina. While reading Skellig, she appeared to be very creative mostly because of the fact that she was being homeschooled. I loved seeing how she ended up being homeschooled, and what her whole situation was because I was able to empathize more with her character. Being able to experience what was going on in her head with her really let me look under the surface and see who she really was.
I loved the way she looked at the world, and all the extraordinary activities she came up with. They were all really inspiring and exactly what I needed right now in my life. Because of this, I had a deep personal connection with this book. It almost took my breath away a few times. My goal is to eventually do all of the extraordinary activities listed throughout this book. They are a little silly and could be considered childish, but they are founded on some interesting concepts that make you think about things in a different way. They also just seem like fun.
I would be very interested to see how children who have read Skellig react to this. I think this book can be very inspiring for children by showing them that they can look at things in different ways and have profound experiences because of it.