Andersen Award–winner David Almond’s novels are never simple, and Raven Summer is no exception. Liam and Max discover a baby and a jar of cash. No one claims her, and the police have no leads. But Liam’s mother de cides to adopt her, and Liam’s expectation of an endless summer of imaginary play in idyllic meadows cracks apart. Moral decisions loom larger than life, and the lads he has counted as his friends peel away like onionskin. Inno cence battles adolescence, and when strangers enter the equation, innocence disappears. “There are savages everywhere, waiting their chance” (73). David Almond is the winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Award. He also has received the Whitbread Award and the Carnegie Medal. lmp

Originally published as Jackdaw Summer by Hodder Children’s Books Great Britain, in 2008.

Liam and his friend Max are playing in their neighborhood when the call of a bird leads them out into a field beyond their town. There, they find a baby lying alone atop a pile of stones—with this note pinned to her clothing:
PLESE LOOK AFTER HER RITE. THIS IS A CHILDE OF GOD.