Floodland

Product Information

Marcus began to write seriously in 1994. His first book, Floodland, was published by Orion in 2000, and won the Branford-Boase award for best debut children's novel. Witch Hill followed in 2001, and was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award. The idea behind this post apocalyptic world was fascinating and it wasn't too preachy seeing as it is a possible eventuality of global warming.

The pacing was fast, choppy even at times and the narrative quite disjointed. the ending came with a large dose of skepticism on my part as it was unbelievable and unsatisfactory. Marcus has been shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal five times, the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize (four times). He is also the most noted author in the history of the Printz Award, with one win and two honour books,for Revolver, The Ghosts of Heaven and Midwinter Blood. What age did you first start writing and when did you think that one day you'd write a novel that would actually be published? It was a single line, the first line in the book in fact. I'd had it for ages but didn't know where I was going to use it until the character of Edgar came along: "I suspect I may have fleas again".

Looking for something different

Finding an empty shell casing on the pavement in St Petersburg. It was a long way from there to the finished book but that was the start of it. I have a pet raven called Edgar, though he doesn’t say much, eat much, or indeed, move much. There’s a possibility that he’s stuffed, I guess. But Eels Island, whose raggle-taggle inhabitants are dominated by the strange boy Dooby, is full of danger too.The belief that she will one day find her parents spurs Zoe on to a dramatic escape in a story of courage and determination that leads to an unexpected and touching conclusion. Marcus also wrote with his brother Julian, and contributed to a short story collection with fellow YA authors.

Many of your novels are inspired by history and by myth and legend - have these areas always been a fascination of yours since childhood and if so how did this passion come about? Floodland has a powerful and emotive theme, handled with warmth and humanity. About This Edition ISBN: Zoe, left behind in the confusion, survives there as best she can. Alone and desperate among marauding gangs, she manages to dig a derelict boat out of the mud and escape to Eels Island. But Eels Island, whose raggle-taggle inhabitants are dominated by the strange boy Dooby, is full of dangers too. It varies from book to book but it's not a chore as I love to do research. It's easier than actually writing the things! For Revolver, the research spanned about 16 months, of little trips here and there and lots and lots of reading!

Curriculum

I have to say I finished this book wondering what the message was? If it was to make people aware of the dangers of global warming it didn't touch on what had actually happened to bring about this world with any clarity. If it was that tragedy brings out the worst in humans then it did a good job but it didn't go deep enough.