I have of course heard of this book before, but it had never really come up on my radar. I suppose, as I wasn't much of a reader until secondary school (where I started reading books for much older audiences than my age), I never really read many children's classics.
I was asked to read this book ready for my Year 2 English Studies, and I loved it! I will be reading again, so will probably make some edits, but first impressions:

The story was relatively obvious and easy to predict even for a child (although I had expected the baby to die in all honesty...), however, I felt it was very well written and enjoyable even in it's simplicity. In fact, something about the simplicity of it helped to give it that classic fairytale feeling.

Considering it was first published in 1998, I loved the image of masculinity shown by the main character and his father. It's rare that I read a children's book with a male child protagonist, and find myself smiling at their empathy, gentleness, and curiosity to learn. I thought that Almond did a good job at still balancing those traits with the football, and rough-games that are the 'classic' boy's playground pastimes, to still allow any child to fully engage with Michael, and maybe even learn how to better express that emotional, creative side he shows.

The heavy topics it centres around are handled beautifully, and with a creativity that will definitely help adults to explain, and children to explore, the emotions and worries throughout.

I honestly can't wait to re-read a little closer to September, and really dig into it a little more!