Clay

Product Information

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? 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] I would recommend this book to students who are Catholic, students who enjoy art, or students who have family issues. I might also give this book to a student who has dealt with death, a mental disability or with bullying. 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. Jozef, is a middle-aged Polish immigrant who works in house clearances by day and in a takeaway by night; observing the small park as he mourns the farm he lost because he couldn’t deal with new EU regulations. He realises that TC is alone outside for far too long and he sees signs that he is hungry, so he tactfully offers him food and tries to he his friend.

the Malabar Coast (The Alexander Clay Series Book 9) Upon the Malabar Coast (The Alexander Clay Series Book 9)

This was a goodreads giveaway and sounded like the kind of book I enjoy. It's about people and the impact they can have on each other's lives. Almond captures all the energy and awkwardness of youth. A first kiss, sneaking cigarettes, goofing around in class, growing away from a best friend—all these scenes are woven into the darker story of Stephan and Davie’s creation. Underneath it all is a childlike egoism that makes these boys feel responsible for the bad things that happen: If we wish it and it happens, then it must have happened because of us. This book was interesting to say the least. I read Clay because it was a required book for my class, but in a way I am glad I did. It was weird and uncomfortable but I found myself reflecting on the actions and conversations of characters in the book. I was intrigued by all of the different possibilities and I tried to come up with a solution for what happened between Davie and Stephen and their clay creation. I would hand this book to a high school student. 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. As we jumped from character to character (which I like), I wanted the tension to build. I wanted to feel that horrible feeling when we can predict how these worlds are going to collide and blow up. We're told at the beginning what's going to happen. In this case, the break from pure chronology failed. Some stories start with the end, and you're still enthralled. In this case, you're not. There's no tension in this story. It also failed because there's essentially nothing after that. When you're told the ending at the beginning, you expect a bit more. Otherwise, as in this case, the story is anticlimactic. When the crisis reached its climax, it seemed rushed.Not as good as the other two I have read (but this was her first novel I think) . I really appreciated all the nature references, especially as it describes urban 'forgotten bits' of greenery, shrubbery, brambles etc ... and then the characters that love this ares for their different reasons.

Clay (novel) - Wikipedia

Disturbing, thought-provoking. Original...In this slim book, we're challenged to re-examine our beliefs as Davir is challenged. TC leaves the house to avoid an argument his mother is having with her boyfriend, and Jozef sees him outside in the rain, so invites him indoors to get food, sensing that he is being neglected. Throughout the course of the book TC makes friends with Daisy, but also forms a close bond with Jozef, who is in his forties; because of this, people start to make assumptions about his motivations for hanging around with TC. Although for many years I’d enjoyed Melissa Harrison’s nature writing, the first novel of hers which I read was “All Among the Barley” and, having enjoyed her quite brilliant story-telling in that one, I was motivated to read her debut novel … as well as any others she has already written… or will write in the future! Melissa Harrison's debut novel is a brilliant hybrid of fiction and nature writing centred on semi-wild spaces in a London suburb. The events of the book cover a year, broken into seasonal chapters that mix descriptions of the natural world with a cast of characters whose relationship with nature is at the heart of the story.

It's difficult for me to comment on this book. Based on the description, it should have been a five for me. One of my Pottery Club members (thanks Richard!) suggested I write a blog post about the best pottery books I have on my book shelf - what a splendid idea! I’ve been reading and collecting pottery books for 15 years now, as a self taught potter, it’s where I garnered most of my knowledge. You can’t beat taking a pottery book to bed to get you inspired for what to make the next day. 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.

Clay: 20 fantastic projects for Make It With Air-Dry Clay: 20 fantastic projects for

I thought it was a beautifully written book full of snippets of real life, like Sophia and the daffodil bulbs and her threadbare tea towels. I was all set to give it 5 stars until the end. It was so sad and brutal. In many ways it reminded me of Atonement, the devastation that one thing can have on so many lives. American Library Association (2007). "2007 Best Books for Young Adults". Archived from the original on 13 February 2011 . Retrieved 3 February 2011. 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 ] Davie and his best friend Geordie are just ordinary kids: altar boys, mediocre students, part of a gang full of mischief and rivalry. When Stephan Rose arrives, sent to live with his crazy Aunt Mary, because his father has died and his mother has gone mad, Father O’Mahoney asks that the boys befriend him. They resist, but Davie soon finds himself drawn to the strange new boy, fascinated as much with Stephan’s ability to create fantastic figures from clay as he is with Stephan’s taunting of Mouldy, the bully who’s vowed to ‘get’ Davie. Stephan has a gift, a real genius, for shaping figures that seem to live and breathe. He recognises something in Davie—some innocence, some goodness—that he can use, and begins to draw him into his plan. Together the boys create a monster from mud, a creature that not only lives but walks and obeys. Then something awful happens to Mouldy, and Davie must take action. 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).I read Melissa Harrison’s most recent novel All Among The Barley and was so impressed that I decided to return her earlier novels. hornbeams, service trees, acacias and Turkey oaks with bristly acorn cups like little sea anemones. It was alive with squirrels, jays and wood mice, while in spring thrushes let off football rattles from the treetops, and every few summers stag beetles emerged to rear and fence and mate …“

The Best Pottery Books — Kara Leigh Ford Ceramics The Best Pottery Books — Kara Leigh Ford Ceramics

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.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. The novel gradually moves towards an unhappy ending with the friendships between the characters broken forever and their connection with the park lost. year old Davie and his friend, Geordie, are altar boys at their local Catholic church. They get into all kinds of mischief, such as stealing altar wine and fighting with a group from a rival school. One day, they spot a strange new boy named Stephen Rose, who has a passion for making sculptures, moving into his aunt "Crazy" Mary's house. Father O'Mahoney urges the two boys to befriend him, thinking they could be the friends Stephen needs to get over the trauma of losing both his parents. At first reluctant, believing Stephen to be doomed to insanity like the rest of his family, Davie grows closer to him and learns of a secret--Stephen can make his sculptures come to life. So can Davie, and Stephen wants his help to make a life-size man out of clay. A beguiling book that entwined people and nature. Loved the prose, not over precious, yet I could see and hear and sense the seasons as they were described. Also because the setting was in London, the nature was small and confined, with just a hint, an echo of something greater and wilder, perhaps like the wolf the little boy wanted to see. An over-protected child, a neglected child, a Polish immigrant and an old lady living lives of differing loneliness. They each find meaning in the nature and small animal life of a nearby park. Their lives sometimes overlap and they seem to communicate and take comfort from each other in small ways and yet this reader, at least, could not relax as an overwhelming foreboding stalked the narrative.