Book Info

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Format

Paperback
256 pages

Author

David Almond
More books by David Almond

Author's Website

www.davidalmond.com/

Publisher

Hodder & Stoughton Childrens Division

Publication date

15th April 2004

ISBN

9780340944998

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The Fire Eaters

David Almond

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The Lovereading comment:

Fire-eaters is a compelling and utterly absorbing read that will remind you of elements of Lord of the Flies - human cruelty and its exploitation.  As the story unfolds it will really pull at the strings.

 

David Almond novels in order of publication: Skellig, Kit’s Wilderness, Heaven Eyes, Counting Stars, Secret Heart, The Fire-Eaters, Clay and most recently Jackdaw Summer.

Synopsis

It's Autumn and the winds of change are blowing for Bobby Burns. His new school is a frightening place, World War III might be imminent, and then there's the strange fire eater - a devil called McNulty.

Winner of the Whitbread Children's Book Award 2003

Reviews

"David Almond's The Fire-Eaters is an exceptional novel. Precisely written, it hauntingly evokes the life of a small community at the time of the Cuban Missle Crisis." - Lesley Agnew, THE BOOKSELLER

"Once in a while a book comes along that takes over your head and your heart. David Almond's The Fire-Eaters is such a book. Set more than 40 years ago at the time of the Cuban Missle Crisis, it tells of a small seaside community near Newcastle, living in the fear of the third world war. This brief description does not do it justice, as the novel works on numerous levels. It is a detailed portrait of Bobbie Burns - his family, his community, his school - and McNulty, the wild and strange Fire-Eater. The writing is lyrical and atmospheric and establishes a strong sense of place. The novel engages many emotions and lets you, for a while, live with, and know, this sensitively drawn community." - Wendy Cooling, THE BOOKSELLER

About The Author

David Almond was our Guest Editor in September 2011 CLICK HERE to see his choices.

David Almond is twice winner of the Whitbread Children's Book Award. His first novel, SKELLIG, won the Whitbread Children's Award and the Carnegie Medal. His second, KIT'S WILDERNESS, won the Smarties Award Silver Medal, was Highly Commended for the Carnegie Medal, and shortlisted for the Guardian Award. THE FIRE-EATERS won the Whitbread, the Smarties Gold Award and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. His latest novel, CLAY, was shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book award and the Carnegie Medal.

David is widely regarded as one of the most exciting and innovative children's authors writing today, and his books are bestsellers all over the world, with sales of over 1 million copies.
He lives with his family in Northumberland.

Julia Eccleshare on David Almond:

One of the best-loved and finest writers of today, David Almond made an immediate impact with Skellig, his first book. The moving story of a boy’s discovery of a strange creature in the shed which can be interpreted in many ways introduced some to the recurrent themes of David Almond’s writing. Infused with a touch of magic or the supernatural or ‘belief’, David Almond writes sensitively about the inner complexities of growing up. Much influenced by the landscape of Tyneside where he was brought up and still lives, David Almond’s books have a strong sense of place especially in titles such as Heaven’s Eyes, The Fire-Eater and Kit’s Wilderness. Although often clearly set in some particular time, there is a timeless quality to David Almond’s stories which give them enduring appeal.

A Note from the Author

"I grew up in a big extended Catholic family [in the north of England]. I listened to the stories and songs at family parties. I listened to the gossip that filled Dragone's coffee shop. I ran with my friends through the open spaces and the narrow lanes. We scared each other with ghost stories told in fragile tents on dark nights. We promised never-ending friendship and whispered of the amazing journeys we'd take together. I sat with my grandfather in his allotment, held tiny Easter chicks in my hands while he smoked his pipe and the factory sirens wailed and larks yelled high above. I trembled at the images presented to us in church, at the awful threats and glorious promises made by black-clad priests with Irish voices. I scribbled stories and stitched them into little books. I disliked school and loved the library, a little square building in which I dreamed that books with my name on them would stand one day on the shelves. Skellig, my first children's novel, came out of the blue, as if it had been waiting a long time to be told. It seemed to write itself. It took six months, was rapidly taken by Hodder Children's Books and has changed my life. By the time Skellig came out, I'd written my next children's novel, Kit's Wilderness. These books are suffused with the landscape and spirit of my own childhood. By looking back into the past, by re-imagining it and blending it with what I see around me now, I found a way to move forward and to become something that I am intensely happy to be: a writer for children."

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