Half a Creature from the Sea

In this collection of short stories, David Almond takes a series of ordinary lives and makes them extraordinary. A poltergeist is causing havoc in Joe Quinn's house. Slog's dad comes back from the dead to pay his son a visit. God even makes an appearance at the bottom of Cathleen Kelly's garden. These are tales where the everyday becomes touched with magic and the challenges of childhood take on the quality of dreams.

The eight stories gathered together in Half a Creature from the Sea are all set in the North East of England where the author grew up. His love of Tyneside oozes out of every page, and it is his familiarity with the region that makes his writing so powerfully personal. Each tale begins with an autobiographical introduction explaining how the stories came to be written.These illuminating additions offer a fascinating insight into the art of story telling.

Beautifully illustrated by Eleanor Taylor, this collection of finely crafted stories confirms David Almond's position as a master of children's fiction.