A darkly twisted detective ghost tale, from the winner of the Guardian Children’s Book Prize.
Davie travels his small town in search of a supposed murderer. But the landscape soon starts to blur into something dark and twisted.
He must make sense of the landscape, if he has any chance of finding answers. The people he encounters on his travels don’t seem entirely real either. Then he meets the victim of the murder … but, is he dead, or alive?
The Colour of the Sun is a complex novel by beloved author David Almond, who is well known for Skellig.
In the aftermath of a death, Davie goes in search of the killer following his mother’s advice that “the day is long, the world is wide, you’re young and free”. Along the way, he meets a host of characters through whom he learns about love, feuds, loss, friendships and growing up, while coming to terms with the death of his own father. At times, you are left wondering what is real and what might be imagined as the two merge into Davie’s narrative.
The story mixes themes of grief, adolescence, childhood and the supernatural. The themes within the book are challenging, but the text is accessible – making it a suitable and thought-provoking choice for KS3 readers.
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Year group(s) the book is most suitable for:
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Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
Would you recommend the book for use in primary schools?
yes
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