When angels fall to the mortal world

Author: David Almond
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-10-01
Features: This book won the 1998 Carnegie Medal for Children's Literature in the UK, the 1998 Whitbread Children's Book Award in the UK, the Silver Medal for the 2000 American Library Association "Pulitzer" Award, the Silver Award for the "Parents' Choice" Book Award in the U.S., the New York Times Best Seller, the Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly in the U.S., the Silver Pencil Award in the Netherlands, and the American Peterson Award for Young Adult Literature.
Moonlight streamed through the arched window. Skellig sat facing away from us by the window, leaning forward. Due to the backlighting, his entire figure was like a black silhouette stuck against the window. We could clearly make out the slight hump of his shoulders and the pair of folded wings on his shoulders. His shirt had torn open, hanging down at the base of the wings. He must have heard the sound of us opening the door and crouching down by the wall, but he didn’t turn around. We didn’t dare speak or dare to approach him, just crouched there watching. At that moment, an owl with outstretched wings descended from the moonlight and landed on the window, its body forward, its mouth open. Something fell from its mouth onto the windowsill, and then it rose into the air and flew away. Skellig lowered his head, bringing his mouth close to the windowsill.