The Savage

Almond, D. (2008). The Savage. Cambridge, Mass: Candlewick Press.
LS5385: YA Lit/Fantasy

I will admit that this one made it into my library check-out cart for two reasons: 1) the library had the book, and 2) it was clearly a short read (WITH PICTURES!!). yeah, I know - I sound like my son.

The amazing thing is that it was one of the coolest reads I have had in a while.  Yes, short but FULL of story. RICH in characters.  Well-written - even though it's written with a child's grasp of spelling and punctuation.  As an aside - sometimes I felt like I was reading something the Chick-Fil-A cows might have written!

It is a very interesting story about a young boy who is dealing with the loss of his father and a town bully who only gets worse once the boy's father has died.  Writing is the boy's escape, and as he deals with his feelings, the lines between his story about "the savage" and the boy's real life become blurred.

The drawings (by Dave McKean, who worked on Harry Potter set designs) are spectacular and wild enough that they help the reader along. They are rugged and edgy.

I was amused by the "profanity" in the book - the boy writing d*** and then apologizing for using a cuss word, but explaining it really was apropos (he was right).  Very nice and again, very much like you'd expect a young boy to write.

Take a look at this - it's definitely worth the short visit and the memory will last longer than the reading time invested.