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The True Tale Of The Monster Billy Dean. David Almond (2011)

by David Almond(Favorite Author)
3.23 of 5 Votes: 5
ISBN
0141332042 (ISBN13: 9780141332048)
languge
English
genre
publisher
Puffin Books
review 1: An astonishing book. The narrator, who has been locked away in a room for the first 12 years of his life and remains largely uneducated, writes using invented spelling, which helps set the story within a place of isolation and loneliness. In fact the outer world has been bombed and, for his own protection, the boy -- a "monster" born as the bombs fell -- has been hidden away by his mother and his largely absent preacher. As a result Billy sees and experiences everything with a naivety, a confusion, and a dawning understanding that brings him fear and hope, rage and love.
review 2: Didn't actually read this book as it is written phonetically - Billy hasn't been taught to write but is learning as he writes his story as part of therapy.If I had been able to stand
... morethis (but drove me nuts and gave me a headache, and having read the other's reviews I am not the only who felt this way), I would have read it! David Almond always does something different.Something different for teens who are good readers - might be worth a shot with reluctant readers too?! less
Reviews (see all)
sushka
I can imagine the Printz committee looking closely at this one...it's right up their alley.
katykat1542
Mesmerizingly strange. The phonetic spelling gets easier to read.
A_Learned_Turnip
As always, David Almond has left me feeling unsettled.
Anna_Szakacs
WTF?
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