Kit's Wilderness
| Author | David Almond |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Young adult novel |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
|
Publication date
|
1999 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) |
| Pages | 233 pp (first edition) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 43342540 |
| LC Class | PZ7.A448 Ki 1999 |
Kit's Wilderness is a children's novel by David Almond, published by Hodder Children's Books in 1999. It is set in a fictional English town in the northeast of the country and was based on the former coal-mining towns the author knew as a child growing up in Tyne and Wear. It was silver runner-up for the Smarties Prize in ages category 9–11 years, highly commended for the Carnegie Medal, and shortlisted for the Guardian Prize.
In the U.S. it was published by Delacorte Press in 2000 and won the Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association, recognising the year's best book for young adults.
Thirteen-year-old Kit and his family have moved back to Stoneygate to be with his grandfather, who is succumbing to Alzheimer's Disease, after Kit's Grandmother dies. His grandfather, an ex-miner, tells him about the town's coal-mining days and the hardships and disasters that were a part of his youth. Kit meets Allie Keenan, full of energy and life, but also shadowy John Askew and the dangerous 'game' he plays – a game called Death. Through playing the game, Kit comes to see the lost children of the mines and begins to connect his grandfather’s fading memories to his, his friends’ and Stoneygate's history.
The Watsons are known as one of the "Old families" because they have ancestors who worked in the mines before they were closed, such as Kit’s grandfather. Askew surrounds himself with characters that are from families who worked in the mines including Kit. Now that he is a part of Askew’s group, Kit is invited to play the game Death, in which they reenact the death of children in the mines.
Once chosen for Death, Kit undergoes a change; snapping at Allie on multiple occasions. Noting this change, his teacher Miss Bush follows him and uncovers the game. Askew is expelled from school for being the leader. To escape his father, who is an alcoholic, Askew runs away and lives in an abandoned mine shafts. Angry at Kit for ending the game and getting him expelled, Askew sends Bobby Carr, another character from the "Old families" group, to bring Kit to the cave where they confront each other in the book’s climax.
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