Mina is a writer, storyteller, and poet for whom school was a box of conformity into which she didn’t fit. Now she’s homeschooled. It’s not just Mina’s abilities—she’s extraordinarily gifted with language—but also her intense sensitivity, compounded by the death of her father, that has made navigating the everyday world so challenging. David Almond’s novel about a precocious child unfolds through singular first-person narrative that includes stories Mina writes, most of them revealing events that happened in the past. Mina approaches the things she has to tell in her own time, exposing a bit more of the truth once she is ready to reveal it. She is a child who sees herself as separate from others because of her gifts, and she uses this as a means of protecting herself: There’s no chance of rejection when she doesn’t risk connection. Recognizing this, and taking the first step toward moving beyond it, is the biggest challenge Mina faces. So when she approaches the new boy who has moved in next door and says, “Hello, my name is Mina,” it’s a true act of courage. This companion novel to Skellig (U.S. edition: Delacorte Press, 1999), in which Mina was a secondary character, stands on its own. (Ages 9–12)

Award-winning author David Almond reintroduces readers to the perceptive, sensitive Mina before the events of Skellig in this lyrical and fantastical work. My Name is Mina is not only a pleasure to read, it is an intimate and enlightening look at a character whose open mind and heart have much to teach us about life, love, and the mysteries that surround us.

Mina loves the night. While everyone else is in a deep slumber, she gazes out the window, witness to the moon's silvery light. In the stillness, she can even hear her own heart beating. This is when Mina feels that anything is possible and her imagination is set free.

A blank notebook lies on the table. It has been there for what seems like forever. Mina has proclaimed in the past that she will use it as a journal, and one night, at last, she begins to do just that. As she writes, Mina makes discoveries both trivial and profound about herself and her world, her thoughts and her dreams.