Kit's Wilderness

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Almond, David. KIT'S WILDERNESS. 1999. New York, NY: Delacourt Press. ISBN 0385326653

SUMMARY
"Thirteen-year-old Kit goes to live with his grandfather in the decaying coal mining town of Stoneygate, England, and finds both the old man and the town haunted by ghosts of the past" (CIP).

ANALYSIS
I found KIT'S WILDERNESS to be a pretty distrubing read. That may just be due to pregnancy hormones, but the dark moodiness and haunting writing did not work for me right now. I had to put it down several times to keep from being drawn in and freaked out -- which probably speaks more to Almond's considerable abilities as a lyrical writer than to my abilities as a reviewer, but oh well. I didn't like it.

The character development was strong throughout, and although John Askew is intended to be enigmatic in the beginning, the force of his (creepy) personality came through. I usually have a lot more patience for the wounded loner character, but I was much more interested in Kit's relationship with his grandfather. The way it built and the inevitable end were both handled very well and with great depth of feeling. One of the main themes of the novel is continuity through generations within families and towns, and this theme was explored most beautifully through Kit's relationship with his grandfather.

Another main theme of course is redemption and rebirth- there are elements of this throughout the story but most obviously in Askew's game of death. Kit and the others "play" death and then, unlike the ghost children from the mines' past, they get to walk out of the mines, "out of the ancient darkness into the shining valley" (3). I found the paranormal aspects of the story, the blending of Kit's reality in Stoneygate with the past of the mines, and the children who died there, to be the most disturbing part for me. Once the ghost children began to permeate Kit's waking life, from Silky to the nameless others, I was willfully trying to disconnect. Almond was successful in creating a dark and moving tale, but it certainly won't go on my favorites shelf.

REVIEWS
"Revisiting many of the themes from Skellig, Almond offers another tantalizing blend of human drama, surrealism and allegory. He opens the novel with a triumphant scene, in which Kit Watson, the 13-year-old narrator, and his classmates, John Askew and Allie Keenan reemerge from "ancient darkness into a shining valley," as if to reassure readers throughout the course of the cryptic tale that the game of "Death," so central to the book, is indeed just a game. Nevertheless, he takes readers on a thrilling and spine-tingling ride." PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

"This haunting, lyrical novel by David Almond (Delacorte, 2000) will appeal to teachers because of the beauty of its language and its manipulation of themes. The supernatural elements and gripping story will engage students... The story deals with the eerie influence of the past, from the recently defunct mining industry in Kit's ancestral hometown, to the beginning of humankind. It also focuses on the necessity of the arts, particularly the art of storytelling, to the emotional well-being and even survival of those sensitive to the rhythms of the world and the ripples of time. The hook, both for Kit and for the readers, is the game called Death played in an abandoned mine shaft by a group of misfits at Kit's new school." SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

CONNECTIONS
I'm at a loss as to how to use this novel. A history of british mining law reform? Au unit on child labor? Really it only works as literature, and I wouldn't want to teach it to the whole class. It's a good book review prospect, and I'm sure it would really connect with a segment of the student population in any jr. high school.