This is a prequel to the book Skellig, which I have not read. However, you don't need to read that to understand what's happening to Mina. This book is plotted out as her diary. Each page is a page from her recitations, thoughts, stories she writes, etc. Mina is an unusual child who has trouble conforming. She hates school. She's not a bad child at all, but she doesn't like to follow directions. I would say she's probably oppossitionally defiant, though the author resists those kinds of labels and so should the reader. Mina loves life, but at the start of this story her mother has taken her out of school to home school her for a year to get Mina sort of back on track. The text is not really illustrated, but done graphically so as to resemble the scrawling, doodling, meandering writing of a child. That's excellent.

This book doesn't have much plot. It's about the inner workings of this one child and how she views the world. It's about her dealing with life as it comes to her, even though it's kind of a meditation on subtlety. This is the kind of book that will be perfect for just the right child if they can find it. Worth talking up and sticking with if you need this kind of book (even if you don't know it).