The author wrote the book in a very gripping manner so it is easy to imagine how Link feels like and what he thinks about. In my point of view the novel is very realistic in its description of the life on the streets. This is no fairy tale. It’s a grim depiction of homelessness, and a sharp criticism of our apathy towards it. I think that Stone cold was a thrilling and gripping story and the way that Robert Swindells captured the evilness of shelter was amazing. This teaches us a lesson of how bad it is living on the street homeless with a serial killer looking for you. As you can see Link shouldn’t have left home. At least he had his mother to look after and who knows what Vince would’ve done to Link’s mother afterwards. The writing (often in vernacular) was very engaging and relatable. I thought this was an effective way of helping us understand the characters better. The title of Stone Cold is a Carnegie Medal-Winning thriller, created by the author Robert Swindells. This intense thriller plot has been combined with the perceptive and distressing portrait of what life is like on the streets, as a serial killer preys on the young and vulnerable people of the homeless. The character of Link, is a 17-year-old, is distrustful towards everyone… Until he pairs up with Deb, who is another homeless youngster.

Stone Cold” by Robert Swindells Analysis - GraduateWay “Stone Cold” by Robert Swindells Analysis - GraduateWay

I think the book would equally appeal to boys and girls because of Link and Gail. I would give this book five star rating because it is full of emotions and tells you about the life of homeless people on one hand and brings out the ugly face of our society in which a husband betrays his wife, who in turn betrays her children by bringing in a boyfriend rather than devoting her life to her children. This sad story of Link highlights the tragedy, which the children of broken families had to face in our society. I thought this book was brilliant!! I really enjoyed reading it. I think this was the best book I have read so far, and gives me more reason to read more books. You can make your own image about it, and that makes the book as well as it is. After Link's father abandons his family, Link's mother starts a relationship with a new boyfriend, who forces Link out of the family home in Bradford. Link, now homeless, decides to travel to Camden, London. Here he meets Ginger, a streetwise homeless man, who takes him under his wing. Link and Ginger work together and become friends. I can't remember this much but i swear there was a murder thing going on but i will have to find out as my memory is so bad and I am not even joking on this matter. I liked the length of the book - easy for the target audience (teenagers) to read, and digest and easy for me to speed through it when I didn't want to put it down! My sister was talking about this book along with others she had done for her GCSE English and English Language course, among the books she had, this appeared to interest me most. Probably because it was one that I have not read before, even while I was going through my GCSEs.

Shelter gives himself a name that he believes will attract homeless people, as he believes they are all looking to be sheltered from something. He says the homeless should brace themselves for what is coming and claims that he is prepared. Vince leers at Mum, making suggestive comments about going to bed and rounding out a decent night. He nudges and winks at Link, trying to get a reaction. Link notes that he never remembers his own father talking about sex or even hinting at it. Link says that something happened between his sister, Carole, and Vince one night when Mum was working late. He never knew the full details, but he had a pretty good idea about what it could have been. Afterward, Mum and Carole fought, and Carole moved in with her boyfriend. I liked that the story didn't have a happy ending. While I would have liked that, it wouldn't have been realistic at all, and therefore would have undermined the issue it was trying to represent. Link’s narrative details the day-to-day trials of homelessness. He talks about the bitter cold of nights on the street, the burning hunger, the struggles of panhandling, the impossibility of getting a job and the nightly fear of others lurking in nearby dark doorways. One day, Ginger doesn’t return to the boys’ designated meeting place. Link is hurt and concerned, but another of Ginger’s friends says this is just the way it works. Maybe he got a job, decided to leave town, or any number of things. Readers learn from Shelter’s narrative that Ginger has become the newest soldier in his army of dead drifters.

Stone Cold | KS3 English | Teachit Study pack | Stone Cold | KS3 English | Teachit

Meanwhile, intermittent chapters describe the ramblings of a disjointed military vet who calls himself Shelter. He is angry at being discharged after many years of service and believes the country’s homeless population is a result of a government conspiracy. He’s taken it upon himself to fight for his country by disposing of drifters. Shelter develops an elaborate plan for luring young homeless people to his house, killing them, dressing them up as his own private army and burying them beneath the floorboards. Convinced that he’s seen Ginger and Link laughing at him, he begins stalking them. Link is seventeen when he leaves home in the north of England for London, to escape family issues. He can’t find work and is soon homeless. He meets up with Ginger and makes a friend, but then Ginger disappears. Carnegie Winner 1993. Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 2018-02-28. Most of us can’t relate to the characters as we are not homeless but they did a very good job of portraying the way that homeless people are thought of in society and how they are treated. I think that one of the main reasons for this book being written was to show the hardships that people without homes and jobs have to face every day. It also helps to open your eyes to all the things in our lives that we take for granted Supplemental understanding of the topic including revealing main issues described in the particular theme;One day, Ginger decides to meet his old friends. Link waits for him, but he doesn't return. It transpires that Shelter has abducted Ginger by telling him that Link was at his apartment, badly injured. Link finds out Ginger has been murdered. Shelter: Shelter is a 47-year-old man who has retired from army. He is a psychopath serial killer, prowling the streets of London on a mission to rid the city of “dossers,” as he calls them. He talks about street kids and kills many of them, because he hates them “I can clean up the garbage, can’t I? They can’t stop me doing that and I will, by golly I will.” As you can see by the way he talks, he seems dangerous. He is actually making an army of ‘dead people.’ He acts soft from outside that you can’t even think of such a guy can commit a murder. He thinks that he is doing a good job by killing homeless people. He thinks he is an intelligent serial killer as he goes on a killing spree without being caught. He is really confident, or should I say over confident about no one catching him. He persuades people on the street (homeless) to come to his house for free food and a warm bed and when they come he kills them. He keeps the ‘dead people’ army under his floorboard. He buys them shoes and cut their hairs. I dislike this character because of his cruelty to towards homeless people. If u would read this book you will start to make an extremely bad image of shelter in your mind. Find sources: "Robert Swindells"– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( October 2015) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) I liked the protagonist and felt his story and motivations were explained in an interesting, understandable way. I enjoyed seeing the world through his eyes. Also notable is Link's small and suitably quiet reflection upon the disappearance of another 'dosser': "...and how [his parents] never dreamed he'd be called Doggy Bag and live on scraps and be so unimportant that he'd vanish and no one would care." It's a pathetic moment, but a revealing one which, amid the rest of the book's adolescent bravado (and teen-pitched, exaggerated language) stands out.