''Clay'' is a children's/young adult novel by
David Almond, published in 2005. It was shortlisted for the
Carnegie Medal and longlisted for the
Guardian Children's Fiction Prize
The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author ...
. The story, told in first-person, is about two boys, Davie and Stephen, who can make clay come to life. However, things quickly go downhill as the two become involved in a plot to rise a life-size sculpture they name "Clay". The story focuses on the nature of evil and creativity.
It was adapted for television in 2008 by
Andrew Gunn, first aired on
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
on 30 March 2008, and later rebroadcast another 9 times on
BBC HD
BBC HD was a 24-hour high-definition television channel provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007 before its discontinuation on 26 March 2013. It broadcast ...
.
Plot
14 year old Davie and his friend, Geordie, are altar boys at their local Catholic church. They get into all kinds of mischief, such as stealing altar wine and fighting with a group from a rival school. One day, they spot a strange new boy named Stephen Rose, who has a passion for making sculptures, moving into his aunt "Crazy" Mary's house. Father O'Mahoney urges the two boys to befriend him, thinking they could be the friends Stephen needs to get over the trauma of losing both his parents. At first reluctant, believing Stephen to be doomed to insanity like the rest of his family, Davie grows closer to him and learns of a secret--Stephen can make his sculptures come to life. So can Davie, and Stephen wants his help to make a life-size man out of clay.
Awards
''Clay'' received recognition in 2007 as one of the
Best Books for Young Adults
The American Library Association's Best Fiction for Young Adults, previously known as Best Books for Young Adults (1966–2010), is a recommendation list of books presented yearly by the YALSA division (Young Adult Library Services Association
Th ...
.
References
External links
Clayat the
IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
2005 British novels
British children's novels
British young adult novels
2005 children's books
Hodder & Stoughton books
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