I have never heard that quote before, and it's lovely! I agree, it can be wonderful to realise how deeply you read as a child, and how much the experience of reading existed in the imagination, and how that's what went into the memory.

Skellig is the one I remember most clearly. It was a VERY big deal here when I was a kid: I'm pretty sure we read it in school. Despite that, I enjoyed it a lot, and found it stayed with me. The only other Almond I remember reading is "Heaven-Eyes", which was a bit more of a problem novel, but I remember enjoying his prose.

I vividly remember this book, Kite, and would have bet money that David Almond wrote it too, but apparently he didn't.