The Color of the Sun

June 17, 2019
Almond (Skellig) walks the fine line between reality and illusion in this reflective novel about a wandering boy. A few weeks after his father’s death, Davie’s mother urges him to go out into “the lovely world outside that door.” After filling his haversack with childhood mementos and his mother’s delicious bara brith, he sets out to rediscover his British town, Tyneside, which he considers a “dead-end place.” But things are happening: an older boy, Jimmy Killen, is rumored to have been killed. Davie sees the body, but despite warnings of a murderer on the loose, he keeps walking, encountering figures familiar to him: a priest who is questioning his faith; Shonna Doonan and her “sweet and lovely” voice; and Zorro Craig, who is widely suspected to be Jimmy’s murderer. Ghosts, too, including Davie’s father, visit the boy, offering words of wisdom and a heightened awareness of the world’s wonders. Through economic prose expressing Davie’s memories and keen observations, the book subtly shows the protagonist’s grief over losing his father and childhood innocence. Spanning only one day, it evokes the mysteriousness of life, the power of imagination, and moments when childhood and adulthood intertwine. Ages 12–up.

July 15, 2019
The blurred boundaries between life and death, love and hate, joy and sorrow, wild and tame form the heart of this dreamlike story. Tyneside boy Davie sets off a few weeks after his father's death to wander aimlessly through town on a hot, sunny summer's day. He encounters a friend who shares the titillating news of his discovery of a dead body--a slightly older boy apparently killed in a knife fight with a young man from a rival family. Short chapters describe Davie's conversations as he rambles about, seeking the chief suspect. Along the way he stops for conversations with a disillusioned priest, two little girls playing an imaginative game of fairies, an old man who lost a leg in a mining accident, a woman who shares a fantastical story of a baby lost and found, and a veteran who gently nurtures his flourishing garden, among others. Dreamy, artistic Davie loses himself in his imagination and in the contradictions of the untamed beauty of his surroundings: larks and buzzards, buttercups and abandoned coal pits. Touches of humor, pithy words of Northern common sense, and moments of heightened tension and mystery provide grounding elements in the midst of the reverie. All characters in this English town appear to be white. A haunting tale of embracing transformation and finding beauty in an imperfect world. (Fiction. 12-adult)

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September 1, 2019

Gr 9 Up-In spite of, or perhaps because of, his father's death just three weeks prior, Davie's mother sends him out of the house on an "ordinary" summer day. She's baked some "bara brith"-bread sweetened with dried fruit-to take along; she's firm but kind. Award-winning English novelist Almond directs his protagonist with a similar sureness: the plot, a road trip of sorts, allows other characters Davie meets along the way to supply the drama as he sets off on foot for a sunny hill outside of town. First Davie's mate Gosh Todd shows him the body of a kid their age he claims has been murdered, casting a long shadow on Davie's outing. Then he meets two women he's known all his life who speak to the "vulnerability of all babes" as they retell the folktale of a child stolen out of its pram by a buzzard, perhaps never to return. This only makes Davie curious about what "the warm breeze at his back" would feel like were he to be abducted, because maybe he would like to be lost, too. As Davie's many surprising encounters-a local priest who reveals he's in love, a "bonny" lass crushing on shy Davie, an ugly stray dog who keeps him on track-start to dislodge Davie's isolation, readers too are touched by this small-town, gossipy community who nonetheless care about an adolescent boy coming to terms with grief. VERDICT In this piece of masterful storytelling, a small town offers its own brand of solace to a young teen struggling with loss. Recommended.-Georgia Christgau, Middle College High School, Long Island City, NY

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2019
Grades 7-10 Three weeks following his father's death, Davie goes for a long walk through his North England town. It's a hot summer morning, and as the day stretches on, the temperatures rise along with a certain uneasiness. Davie's meandering path to the top of a hill is interrupted by various townsfolk, each one brought to vivid life by a few simple descriptions from Almond, and there's a certain, ever-present oddness, a subtle discomfort that is bolstered by the news that a boy has just been murdered and his killer is abroad?it could be anyone. This is a quiet, contemplative book, though, and as Davie wanders on, so does his mind, ruminating on death even as the world around him hums with life. Almond manages to craft deeply real stories touched by magic that itself feels true, being so well rooted in character and emotion?in this case, Davie's grief. Thematic and lyrical, colored by Newcastle slang and the English countryside, this is one for the deep thinkers and those who are dealing with grief.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2019
Davie wanders his British town and countryside, searching for the accused murderer of one of the older village boys. He meets friends and strangers, listens to their stories, ponders big questions, and sketches. Taking place in a single day, this story works particularly well through its authenticity of setting, dreamlike prose, and the specificity of one particular curious, sweet, grieving boy.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 1, 2019
Davie's day begins with shocking news. One of the older village boys has been murdered by another, a longstanding feud between their two families having escalated. Or so we think. Ostensibly in search of the murderer, Davie sets off to wander his Tyneside town and countryside, meeting friends and strangers, listening to stories, pondering big questions, sketching. Some of his encounters are funny: two bossy little girls creating a fairy world. Some involve village characters: Molly Myers from the pork shop; Wilf Pew, the one-legged man who speaks like a philosopher. Some are genial: a visit with an amiable lesbian couple. And one is genuinely threatening: an attack by thugs. As Davie wanders, he "walks through everything today as if through a dream, as if through an unfolding tale." We gradually realize that Davie is taking a journey through grief, culminating in a dream-vision of his recently deceased father. In its slipping in and out of naturalism, this novel echoes Almond's Kit's Wilderness (rev. 3/00), using summer in its intensity, harshness, and beauty as the previous book used winter. Taking place in a single day, this story works particularly well because of the authenticity of the setting; the dreamlike quality of the prose; and the specificity of one particular off-kilter, grieving, curious, sweet boy. Sarah Ellis

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)