Michael also meets and becomes friends with a neighbour his age, a girl called Mina, who is home schooled by her mother. Mina has an unusual perspective on the world. Nature, birds, drawing and the poems of William Blake interest her and she helps Michael see things in a new light. Michael trusts Mina and he introduces her to the man in the garage. Together they care for him and he ultimately reveals his name as "Skellig". West, Dave (19 March 2008). "Sky One sets three major HD series". Digital Spy . Retrieved 2 September 2008.

Risk and Resilience, Knowledge and Imagination: The Enlightenment of David Almond's Skellig", Elizabeth Bullen and Elizabeth Parsons, Children's Literature 35 (2007) 127–44Michael's friends, Coot and Leaky, become skeptical about Michael and try to find out what he is hiding from them. Michael and Mina try to keep it a secret from them, and have to move "Skellig" plenty of times during the story. ... I realise that that kind of means that I saw it as forgettable but please bear in mind it was about thirteen years ago and I have a horrible memory for books. Seriously, I can forget my favourite books that I’ve only just put down and that doesn’t mean that I don’t love them. I just have a shoddy memory. Carnegie Winner 1998. Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 28 February 2018.

Skellig also explores the theme of friendship. Michael, who is initially estranged from his friends, meets his neighbour Mina and they build an incredible bond. Through the character of Mina the reader is introduced to alternative methods of schooling as Mina is home-schooled and is fascinated with nature and the poet William Blake. Michael and Mina overcome their worries together and their friendship becomes stronger as the story progresses. Skellig is an emotive tale revolving around strong themes of nurture, the value of friendship, trust and love (to name but a few). The story centres around a 10-year old boy named Michael and the unique discovery he stumbles upon after entering a forbidden garage in his garden. The interesting point to note, regarding the creature that Michael discovers and which Almond does very well, is that we as readers never get a direct label for Michael’s discovery. We simply know him as “Skellig”. The clues we are given in the text are that Skellig is crippled with Arthritis; has lived on a diet of insects and spiders and is surrounded by owl pellets. Skellig continues to recite numbers from a Chinese takeaway and later in the tale we discover, through Michael, that Skellig has wings.There are strong themes within this novel such as family, friendship, education and discovery, all of which offer children the chance to think about how other children live, how the most unlikely of people can become the best of friends and how learning isn’t just something that happens inside the classroom. Where does all this lead? What do children wish for? What do you do when your baby sister is in the hospital tied to wires and tubes? Do miracles really exist? ' You have to believe in magic' Olivia once crooned. 'If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.' says Blake.

I fear my feelings about Skellig are going to disappoint you. I didn't love it. Now that could be because it came to me too late in life to truly adore the story of the strange owl/angel/man, or perhaps I am too damn jaded, or it could just be that I no longer seem able to completely enjoy something just for the sake of enjoyment. I don't like that about me, but there it is. Skellig won the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the Hans Christian Andersen award, the Nonino International Prize, and has received an OBE for services to literature.

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This worksheet is a great resource for helping children get a better understanding of the novel Skellig. But Skellig is far more than he at first appears, and as he helps Michael breathe life into his tiny sister, Michael's world changes for ever ... She finds Skellig, takes it out, and I am secretly watching her, knowing she will be in for a rare treat!