Paper Boat, Paper Bird

A stunning new story from the bestselling, prize-winning David Almond, bringing us the magic that surrounds the everyday. Mina, from the unforgettable Skellig and My Name is Mina, journeys to Japan and discovers another reality that is visible to all of us, if you look closely enough.

This wonderful tale transports Mina to Kyoto, Japan, an entirely new and different cultural landscape, where she encounters the magic of origami and an older magic, too. She accepts an origami paper boat from a woman on the bus. 'Ko-ni-chi-wa,' says the woman, 'Take it.' And then, 'Float it.'

Mina watches as the woman's fingers fold another elaborate paper form: creased, tugged and teased into the shape of a paper bird. She imagines what it would be like to be a sheet of paper in the woman's hands, to become a paper Mina. The crowds around her disappear and Kyoto is gone.

This is a beautiful story from one of the masters of magical realism, David Almond, with stunning illustrations from Kirsti Beautyman.

"Spell-binding... impossible to resist... breathless, intoxicating prose. [Almond's] books seem to exist in their own otherworldly universe, outside all the trends in modern publishing, yet resolutely of the now." The Glasgow Herald

"David Almond's books are strange, unsettling wild things - unfettered by the normal constraints of children's literature. They are, like all great literature, beyond classification." The Guardian

"[David Almond] is that rare thing - a writer of lucid, mature elegance, who can still see the world through adolescent eyes." The Daily Telegraph

"A writer of visionary Blakean intensity." The Times

"A master storyteller." The Independent

David Almond (Author)

David Almond is the author of Skellig, My Name is Mina, Island, Bone Music and many other novels, stories, picture books, opera librettos, songs and plays. His work is translated into 40 languages, and is widely adapted for stage and screen. His major awards include the Carnegie Medal, two Whitbread Awards, the Eleanor Farjeon Award, the Michael L Printz Award (USA), Le Prix Sorcieres (France), the Nonino International Prize, the James Kruss Prize and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. He has also won the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the world's most prestigious prize for children's authors. In 2021, David was awarded an OBE for services to literature.

David speaks at festivals and conferences around the world. He is Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. He is widely regarded as one of the most exciting, inspirational and innovative children's authors writing today. He has one amazing daughter. He lives in Newcastle, the city in which he was born.

Kirsti Beautyman (Illustrator)

Kirsti Beautyman is an illustrator and children's book author based in Newcastle Upon Tyne. You'll often find her in her small cosy studio, with her feet on a portable radiator, clutching a mug of hot Ribena while she works on her latest projects.

She graduated from Edinburgh college of Art in 2016 and was awarded 'Picture Hooks Illustrator of the Year' in 2017. In her most recent years Kirsti has turned to working digitally, however, her illustration still always begin as a loose pencil sketch in one of many battered sketchbooks.

A stunning new story from the bestselling, prize-winning David Almond, bringing us the magic that surrounds the everyday. Mina, from the unforgettable Skellig and My Name is Mina , journeys to Japan and discovers another reality that is visible to all of us, if you look closely enough. This wonderful tale transports Mina to Kyoto, Japan, an entirely new and different cultural landscape, where she encounters the magic of origami and an older magic, too. She accepts an origami paper boat from a woman on the bus. 'Ko-ni-chi-wa,' says the woman, 'Take it.' And then, 'Float it.' Mina watches as the woman's fingers fold another elaborate paper form: creased, tugged and teased into the shape of a paper bird. She imagines what it would be like to be a sheet of paper in the woman's hands, to become a paper Mina. The crowds around her disappear and Kyoto is gone.This is a beautiful story from one of the masters of magical realism, David Almond, with stunning illustrations from Kirsti Beautyman."Spell-binding... impossible to resist... breathless, intoxicating prose. [Almond's] books seem to exist in their own otherworldly universe, outside all the trends in modern publishing, yet resolutely of the now." The Glasgow Herald"David Almond's books are strange, unsettling wild things - unfettered by the normal constraints of children's literature. They are, like all great literature, beyond classification." The Guardian"[David Almond] is that rare thing - a writer of lucid, mature elegance, who can still see the world through adolescent eyes." The Daily Telegraph"A writer of visionary Blakean intensity." The Times"A master storyteller." The Independent

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