Every summer Liam and Max roam the wild countryside of Northumberland – but this year things are different. One hot summer’s day a jackdaw leads the two boys into an ancient farm house where they find a baby, wrapped in a blanket, with a scribbled note pinned to it: PLESE LOOK AFTER HER RITE. THIS IS A CHILDE OF GOD.

And so begins Jackdaw Summer. A summer when friendships are tested. A summer when lines between good and bad are blurred. A summer that Liam will never forget…

“Thought-provoking… poetic.”

(The Sunday Times’ 100 Best Children’s Books) — The Sunday Times

“An outstanding novel, truly a challenging and thought-provoking read.”

Books Quarterly

“A vivid and unnerving portrayal of raw adolescent emotion. As ever, Almond’s wiritng is lucid and accessible, and the novel’s themes of acceptance and tolerance are complex and challenging.”

The Bookseller

“Almond is a master storyteller. there is more than enough in this brooding story to keep readers engrossed right up to its near-cataclysmic ending.”

The Independent

“Unsettling but, as ever, beautifully written.”

Daily Mail

“Nobody since William Golding captures so perfectly the savage intensity that underlies the joshing of young teenage males.”

The Herald

“One of the finest writers of children’s novels today. Jackdaw Summer is a wonderful piece of writing for children – unsettling yet poetic. Nobody evokes childhood like Almond.”

The Guardian

Jackdaw Summer is published by Hodder Children’s Books; this edition October 2013. The US edition was published in 2011, under the title Raven Summer.