Mouse Bird Snake Wolf

The imagination of three children takes on unexpected life in a creation tale from the dream team of David Almond and Dave McKean.

The gods have created a world that is safe and calm and rather wonderful. They have built mountains, forests, and seas and filled the world with animals, people, and unnamed beasts. Now their days are fat with long naps in the clouds, mutual admiration, and tea and cake. But their world has gaps in it filled with emptiness, gaps that intrigue Harry, Sue, and little Ben until they begin to see what might fill them. One by one the children conjure, from twigs and leaves and stones, a mousy thing, a chirpy thing, and a twisty legless thing. But as the children’s ideas grow bolder, the power of their visions proves greater and more dangerous than they, or the gods, could ever have imagined. Is it possible to unmake what’s been made?

David Almond is the winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the most prestigious award in international children’s literature. He is known worldwide as the multi- award-winning author of Skellig, Clay, and many other novels, stories, and plays, including two previous titles illustrated by Dave McKean. David Almond lives in England.

Dave McKean is a world-renowned artist, designer, and film director who has illustrated several books for children, including Coraline, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, and The Wolves in the Walls, all by Neil Gaiman, and two prior titles by David Almond. Dave McKean lives in England.