My Swordhand is Singing

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This book, even when it may not appeal all YA readers, is easier to grasp and might be more enjoyable for the masses than, say, Revolver or the other ones I read before. This is not to say that this has less quality than the other ones - what I mean is that in this one there's more action and "entertainment" factors. Peter and his father Tomas are woodcutters living on the edge of a small forest village called Chust. They are outsiders and for the most part keep to their own company. Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks. Home > He is currently working on film projects and graphic novels with his brother, Julian. He has judged numerous books awards, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and the Costa Book Awards.

This is a truly good book. It’s addictive, a quality that all good books need. It’s gripping. Full of suspense. And twists and turns. It follows Peter. The son of a woodcutter who just also happens to be a drunk. They now live in a village called Chust, after living a nomadic lifestyle, never being welcome wherever they choose to stay. And then things in Chust take a dark and sinister turn. Things begin to happen that can’t be explained. Deaths. The slaughter of animals. Bodies drained of blood. But Tomas seems to know something about it, and hides a deep secret. This particular author is quite a prolific writer of YA stories in a variety of genres, but it was the mid-European horror story setting that drew me to this particular book. So this was super interesting in comparison to his other books that I've read (MIDWINTERBLOOD and THE GHOSTS OF HEAVEN). Both of those were interconnected stories, making up one whole novel. This was one novel, which was quite short, and in fact almost too short and simple.

Finding an empty shell casing on the pavement in St Petersburg. It was a long way from there to the finished book but that was the start of it. During a fierce winter, young Peter and his father Tomas, itinerant woodcutters, settle in the forest outside the tiny village of Chust. Strange doings have disturbed the sleepy town: mutilated cattle, bloodied sheep, and unexplained deaths. The villagers react in superstitious ways Peter doesn’t fully understand: They paint their doors with tar, smear their windowsills with garlic, sing a nonsensical folksong at funerals, and perform weddings between young maidens and the recently dead. As the murders multiply, Peter begins to realize that his own father—tormented by a past he will not share with his son—is one of the few who fully understand what is happening. Furthermore, Tomas may hold the key to stopping the horrors, if only he can find the courage to fight.

Marcus has been shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal five times, the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize (four times). He is also the most noted author in the history of the Printz Award, with one win and two honour books,for Revolver, The Ghosts of Heaven and Midwinter Blood. Drawing on extensive research of the vampire legend which permeates traditions throughout the world and set in the forbidding and remote landscapes of the 17th century, this is the story of a father and his son, of loss, redemption, salvation, and the acceptance of death. With both your publisher and author hat on, what advice can you give would-be children's authors in getting published?There is a little bit of romance in this book, but it isn’t in a Twilight way as I previously mentioned. No hostage/human loving. And it isn’t even an important theme. More of a sub-plot. I cannot say this is the creepiest book I've read in my life, but I admit it gave me many chills up my spine. The atmosphere and the writing were factors that contributed to it: Both were dark and gothic. Peter and his father, who drinks too much, have found themselves something of a home as woodcutters for a village, though they choose to live on its outskirts and associate with the villagers as little as possible. The village then sees two deaths, which are blamed on wolves even though it appears unlikely to say the least. Peter's friend Agnes becomes involved in the second death and in his quest to do the right thing by her, he discovers that his own history is much less straightforward than he had thought.

Now he knew who it was. The Gypsy girl, the singer. “You ride very badly!” she said, pointing a finger right at him. “Me?” I write at the weekends, and mostly in the study in my loft, but also sometimes I travel to write - eg much of Revolver was written on trips to Sweden. Romanul de fata se adreseaza tinerilor, facand parte din genul young-adult si la noi a aparut in colectia Nemira Junior. With the help of Sofia, a travelling gypsy, Peter sets out to conquer the evil threat to the village and uncover the secrets of his father's past. Set in the seventeenth century amid the bleakness of winter in Eastern Europe, and inspired by vampire folklore, this is a superbly crafted, dark and menacing tale.

Dupa un timp in sat se zvoneste ca vaduva lui Radu e vizitata noapte de noapte de catre sotul ei mort si ca este din ce in ce mai bolnava si slabita, fiind foarte palida la fata. Aceste zvonuri sunt intarite de convingerea ca Regina Umbrei trebuie sa soseasca si ca va pune stapanire pe sat. Petru insa, desi naiv si speriat, are totusi o arma cu care sa se apere: sabia magica a tatalui sau. The Raven Mysteries are full of humour and mad-cap action, which is quite different from your novels for older readers. Was this a conscious decision of yours when setting out to write this series? Marcus is the winner of many book prizes, most notably the Printz Award (Midwinterblood), the Booktrust Teenage Prize (My Swordhand Is Singing), and the Blue Peter Book Award. His books have been shortlisted for over thirty other awards, including the Carnegie Medal (five times), the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize (four times). In 2011 Revolver was awarded a Printz Honor. Peter doesn't understand why his father carries a long wooden box around with him, or why he has dug a deep ditch around their hut. But he is increasingly aware of malevolence about the place. Menacing shadows, villagers missing and people murdered only to reappear.

Tomas scoffs at this and tells Peter that Agnes’ mother has been saying the same. Peter is angry with his father for not telling him sooner as Peter feels he and Agnes have feelings for each other despite neither of them having expressed those feelings yet. Tomas and Peter don’t have a particularly close relationship. “It seemed to Peter it had always been like that, living in the same room, but like leaves that fall from the same tree, always spinning ever father apart.” Here we go again. To all of you who love this book, I'm sorry. For me one description sums this books up.....:

Remember the days when vampires were evil, non-sparkly creatures? Do you miss those days? If your answer to the last question is yes, then this book is for you. One of the things I enjoyed about My Swordhand is Singing was the way it is full of old myths and legends about how to stop a corpse from becoming one of the undead. Yeah I had to read this book for a competition called Shadowing Carnegie. I think this book is way cool! I'm regretting reading this book before bed because now i always get a strange feeling that I'm being watched.