Where the World Ends

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The characters were all fine and I liked the interactions and relationships they all formed with one another over the course of the story. I’m not entirely sure what age-range this book is supposed to be aimed at, but I feel like if it had been a bit ‘darker’ (i.e. in relation to the characters’ mental deterioration) then it would’ve made for a more impactful story. It’s an interesting book conceptually, made more interesting by that fact that it is loosely based on a true story. The plot and the writing are both good and the atmosphere is intriguing, if not quite as satisfyingly creepy as I had hoped. The characters are satisfactorily rendered, though they’re mostly archetypes. The character of Quilliam changes throughout the course of the book as he is forced to grow up and, through his storytelling, comfort the other boys. By the end of the novel though he has become disillusioned with life on St Kilda to the point where he considers abandoning his home for the mainland.

I definitely enjoyed this read, so much so that I added The Life and Death of St Kilda to my reading wishlist. Each chapter has a related drawing and there is an appendix to help understand the birds. When I finished, I felt as though I had also braved the waves and the ferocious winds of those remote Atlantic isles. Independent Bookshop Week Book Award 2019". Archived from the original on 21 April 2019 . Retrieved 15 October 2019. a b c Coulter, Emilie (2020-01-03). "Where the World Ends". Shelf Awareness . Retrieved 2023-06-07. Where the World Ends is a 2017 young adult novel by Geraldine McCaughrean and illustrated by Jane Milloy. It won the 2018 Carnegie Medal. [1] [2] Reception [ edit ] Smith, Julia (2020-03-15). "Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth: 2020". Booklist . Retrieved 2020-06-07.I also truly loved the setting of this story. The descriptions of the stac they are stranded on are so clear and beautifully explained that it really feels like you're there with them. This historical setting is also excellent, The author does a good job at building characters who are clearly from the 1700s and creating scenarios that would have made sense to people from that period, such as the religious fanaticism and attitudes towards women. This is sort of a Lord of the Flies for the late 18th century crowd, with a little more God and a lot more dead birds. This book is unique. The writing is not what I'm used to but it grows on me and I like the humor underneath it. The broken English in their conversation is hard to read but I'm guessing that it's how the people of Hirta talks. I like Murdo and his talks of sweethearts. I like John's surprise. I also like Quill for always having something to say and stories to tell, especially how he protects little Davie. Simply terrible. I'm still trying to comprehend what I just read but I don't want to put too much thought into it because I don't think it's worth it. Of course, Quill isn’t enough to sustain such a story alone. This is about the group and while his place within the group is neat the other characters are major factors. Three adults go to supervise the fowling while the nine boys are the workforce.

The novel is very loosely based on a true story. Revealed in the end by the author, the only true part of the story is that in the 1700's a group of young men did get stranded for 9 months and survive. That is literally all that is known. No other details survive about the true account as to how they survived, etc. The premise for this book, because of the true story, is interesting. But this novel, which details their time being stranded on the sea stac, left me feeling bored except for a a few parts. a b "Geraldine McCaughrean scoops second CILIP Carnegie Medal 30 years after first win and champions triumph of 'literary' fiction". The Yoto Carnegies . Retrieved 2023-06-06. Based on a real event, this is a story that sings to the soul. It belongs—in shoals—in every school and library. By the glimmer of a fulmar lamp, it gives a rare insight into the hardship of ordinary lives in the early 1700s. What you have been reading is a true story … and there again, it’s not. Fiction is elastic: it stretches to encircle true facts and then crimps them into shape to create Story. The truth is that a party of eight (not nine) boys and three men went over to Stac an Armin, also known as Warrior Stac, from Hirta and were marooned there for nine months. Geraldine McCaughrean is one of today's most successful and highly regarded children's authors. She has won the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Children's Book Award (three times), the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Smarties Bronze Award (four times) and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award. Geraldine lives in Berkshire with her husband, daughter and golden retriever, Daisy. Read more about the author here.Geraldine McCaughrean te atrage și te abandonează pe Stânca Războinicului. Îți fură barca, singurul „colac de salvare”, și te încurajează să îi cunoști pe păsărari și să le înveți obiceiurile și datinile. Romanul are o acțiune moderată, iar unele capitole s-ar putea să pară plictisitoare și anoste, cel puțin la prima vedere, însă Quill și prietenii lui sunt mereu acolo, alături de tine, chiar dacă reușesc să te calce pe nervi sau să te facă să plângi în egală măsură.

Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks. Home > Told from the astute perspective of Quill, I felt very aware of each hardship, of each character’s personality - faults and kindnesses - and the absolute misery wondering why they’ve been abandoned. With little more than a cave for shelter and hunger nipping at their bellies, true natures are soon exposed; Some good, some not so much. One thing is undeniable, each boy and each man will be forever changed by their experience. Communications and Marketing Office (2020-01-27). " "Dig" wins 2020 Printz Award". American Library Association . Retrieved 2023-06-07. I was really pleasantly surprised by this book, I was expecting a Lord of the Flies copy, but it was so much more than that. Every year a small group of men and boys visit a wind-swept sea stac to harvest the nesting sea birds, but this year the boat fails to return for them.Every time a lad came fowling on the St Kilda stacs, he went home less of a boy and more of a man. If he went home at all, that is…” He looked inside his skull, like a cleit, and found it full to the brim with imaginations that might just sustain him through the bad times ahead." [Cleits are stone storage mounds for drying the birds they catch; much of the book details how Quilliam, the main character, retreats to his head and finds ways to survive mentally] I thought the character development was great and I really liked the POV we read from, a boy called Quilliam. We really got to know everyone as this book progressed and I loved that. The plot was really gripping, despite it's one location, and I enjoyed learning more about their island of Hirta through memories, dreams and stories. I could never tell where the plot was going and it made me cry quite a few times. It's best to go into this book not knowing much about the plot, but I definitely recommend it.

a b Flood, Alison (2018-06-18). "Carnegie medal winner slams children's book publishers for 'accessible' prose". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 19 March 2023 . Retrieved 2023-06-06.

Where the world ends is a historical adventure novel that is set in 1727. As the story was based on not very well known historical events, the author would have had a very difficult time, as they would have to have balanced the normal research and note taking that is paramount to a historical novel, while also grappling with the difficulties of finding reliable information on a little known historical occurrence. Geraldine McCaughrean, however, flew through these obstacles, and the final product combined just the right mix of adventure, history, and empathy for the characters' feelings and personalities. The setting was vivid and well described, as were the characters, and the clear storyline combined with McCaughrean's own personal touch created an astounding novel about leadership and loss. At this moment, even after closely analysing it, I cannot find any faults with, as it is clear and not at all frivolous. I particularly enjoyed the way she expressed the novel in a second person's point of view, as although it is more difficult to express the characters emotions this way, she managed it, and this gave the book a unique style and one that is rare in YA books. Sometimes using this technique can result in a disjointed and vague novel, but this was certainly not one of those cases. I enjoyed the narrative from Quill's point of view as it was interesting to see the events unfold from a Birdseye perspective, and I also thought the character of Quill was strong and well portrayed. The history in the book was definitely believable; however this story had a more focused perspective on the novel point of view rather than the Historical, and it unfortunately did not make me want to investigate its set time period. I will have to read more of McCaughrean's books to compare them to this one; however I would, overall, thoroughly recommend this read with a rating of 5 stars. Geraldine McCaughrean has always been a hit and miss author for me. I adored her A Little Lower Than The Angels, and I liked Peter Pan in Scarlet, but I couldn't finish The Middle of Nowhere. This one kind of fell more into the later category, unfortunately, though I was able to finish this. And it did get better as it went on. It just felt a bit dry . LoveReading4Kids exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading4Kids means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives.