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56th out of 75 books
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22 voters
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Secret Heart
by
David Almond
Joe Maloney is out of place in this world. His mother wants him to be a man, and he can’t be that yet. His only friend, Stanny Mole, wants to teach him how to kill, and Joe can’t learn that. Joe’s mind is always somewhere else: on the weird creatures he sees in the distant sky, the songs he hears in the air around him, the vibrations of life he feels everywhere. Everybody ...more
Mass Market Paperback, Readers Circle, 224 pages
Published
January 16th 2009
by Laurel Leaf
(first published 2001)
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3 1/2 stars.
It had good character development and was interesting like all of David Almond's books, but I didn't feel it was as gripping as Clay or Heaven Eyes, or even Skellig. There were some parts that were a bit disturbing (like the part with the unicorns, which is sort of brushed off as if it wasn't abusive to those animals), and some other smaller things I can't quite pinpoint. The main character is certainly interesting, and I thought it was good that he and Corrina weren't p...more
It had good character development and was interesting like all of David Almond's books, but I didn't feel it was as gripping as Clay or Heaven Eyes, or even Skellig. There were some parts that were a bit disturbing (like the part with the unicorns, which is sort of brushed off as if it wasn't abusive to those animals), and some other smaller things I can't quite pinpoint. The main character is certainly interesting, and I thought it was good that he and Corrina weren't p...more
Yet another notable book by David Almond.
Joe Malone is more backward and different than the scruffy, motely crew existing in Helmouth, a teeny village at the city's tiny edge. He struggles with words; he struggles with school; he struggles with surviving the cruel taunts of the town ruffians.
Blending fantasy with reality, Almond weaves a magical tale as we journey with Joe who is drawn to a rag tag circus group that parks its rusty, tattered carts and tent on the fringe of town...more
Joe Malone is more backward and different than the scruffy, motely crew existing in Helmouth, a teeny village at the city's tiny edge. He struggles with words; he struggles with school; he struggles with surviving the cruel taunts of the town ruffians.
Blending fantasy with reality, Almond weaves a magical tale as we journey with Joe who is drawn to a rag tag circus group that parks its rusty, tattered carts and tent on the fringe of town...more
Alright, alright, so I listened to it as an audiobook, but it was still pretty good. The narrator was very attuned to getting the different voices. The story was a bit strange, and nonchalantly macabre, but it was a wonderfully positive look at circus folk. The stuttering hero with a heart of kindness makes the ending magic stronger.
I couldn't wait to finish this book - didn't get into it at all and didn't feel anything for any of the characters.
The main character a lad called Joe lives most of his life inside his own head as in the real life he stammers and not very clever and hasn't many friends. He thinks he catches glimpses of creatures (just out of his eye sight) and feels like he is in another skin at times. A circus comes to town and a tiger who used to work there left his spirit in the circus tent. This winds...more
The main character a lad called Joe lives most of his life inside his own head as in the real life he stammers and not very clever and hasn't many friends. He thinks he catches glimpses of creatures (just out of his eye sight) and feels like he is in another skin at times. A circus comes to town and a tiger who used to work there left his spirit in the circus tent. This winds...more
This wasn't boriing at all. I felt bad for Joey because he was always picked on and was called "gyppo scum!". This book is one of my favorites. The details in the book were amazing. It really gave showed me what Joe and his friends were seeing when they went to the circus and the end is so sad. I recommend this book.
Joe Maloney feels life more deeply than other people – he is tied in to spiritual patterns of the world in ways his peers and neighbors don’t comprehend. When a circus comes to town Joe meets a group of people who understand and require his talents and Joe comes to understand his dreams.
"Another strange and mysterious novel by David Almond. This is definitely a book that fits within his style. The novel is well-written, the characters well-developed. The setting is new and intriguing."
This book was very interesting, it was about a inocent boy with mental, and verbal problems and many questions about life. His inocence is shown when a circus comes to town and he is drawn to it, but everyone else is on strike because they want the circus to leave and let the animals out. Joe learns that in a cruel world there are people that understand. He gets this weird dream about a tiger visiting him in his room. The answers to his questions are with the people in the circus. he meets this ...more
This is a book intended for teens and is supposed to be about the imagination of children - I'm sorry, I just didn't get it.
All of David Almond's books are worth a read - they're some of the best books out there.
I should finish my second reading of this amazing book today.
David Almond is one of my favorite authors, and this is one of--if not the top of my list--my favorite novels of his. The emotional tone is simply astounding. And he shows how beautiful writing can be, even without sentence variety. He starts so many sentences with "Noun verb blah blah blah." Normally, this writing style gets old, but in Almond's hands it's nothing short of gorgeous. If you read only one of his bo...more
David Almond is one of my favorite authors, and this is one of--if not the top of my list--my favorite novels of his. The emotional tone is simply astounding. And he shows how beautiful writing can be, even without sentence variety. He starts so many sentences with "Noun verb blah blah blah." Normally, this writing style gets old, but in Almond's hands it's nothing short of gorgeous. If you read only one of his bo...more
I absolutely loved this book. The fantasy element coupled with the saddness of the main character and all he meets can be felt.
The imagery written into the story is fantastic elegant and extremely gripping. David Almond often shows as I've said the melancholy side to each story and within this one the plight of the circus and the inner soul of a young boy.
Absolutely brilliant. I often had to have tissues handy because some parts are pretty emotional awesome stuff though!
The imagery written into the story is fantastic elegant and extremely gripping. David Almond often shows as I've said the melancholy side to each story and within this one the plight of the circus and the inner soul of a young boy.
Absolutely brilliant. I often had to have tissues handy because some parts are pretty emotional awesome stuff though!
A story which is almost too painfully powerful to read, yet simply written. It's as though we are being made privvy to the secret heart of the writer himself.
A tale of outsiders and "freaks" who need to find a place where they belong, to be taken home. The spirit of a beautiful, but terrible tiger haunts and leads them on.
A tale of outsiders and "freaks" who need to find a place where they belong, to be taken home. The spirit of a beautiful, but terrible tiger haunts and leads them on.
I liked this book alot. It is about a kid who can't reall read or talk very well. His mom wants him to be a man, but his friends what him to kill. But he wants to think about weird cretures. Everyone laughs a him.A tiger comes and his world is never the same again.
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I didnt quite like this as much as the others by Almond. I think it is because I am not a big fan of books about animals.
Still I loved the way that it had been written defo a book to read.
Still I loved the way that it had been written defo a book to read.
Bettie
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joe felt the is a heart deep in his heart.he felt he had left out something untill he met marique...
strange circus people
A must to read
Louise
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Blue Eyed Vixen
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Arthur Martinez
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Katie
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Rosalinde
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David Almond is a British children's writer who has penned several novels, each one to critical acclaim. He was born and raised in Felling and Newcastle in post-industrial North East England and educated at the University of East Anglia. When he was young, he found his love of writing when some short stories of his were published in a local magazine. He started out as an author of adult fiction be...more
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