Description
A unique and lyrical verse novel for middle-grade readers that speaks to our childhood joy of collecting small, intriguing objects and creating connections in the most unlikely places.
Since the accident, eleven-year-old Bones spends her time drawing animal skeletons and scavenging for dead things to add to her collection. She's drifted away from her friends and doesn't want to make new ones, especially not with her chatty new neighbour, Tenny.
One night, under a full moon, Bones accidentally resurrects the skeleton of a baby bird. Bird wants to return to his natural (dead) state, so Bones agrees to reverse the curse - not that she knows how. As she and Bird work out the secrets of the magic, Bones remembers what it's like to have a friend. How can she let Bird go when she doesn't want to say goodbye?
With gorgeous greyscale illustrations of Bones's collected items scattered throughout, this book is perfect for big-hearted readers of Karen Foxlee and Zana Fraillon.
Review
Little Bones is a remarkable verse novel that will stay with you long after you have finished reading it.
Eleven-year-old Bones’s nine-year-old brother died falling out of a tree nearly a year ago. She was cruelly named Bones by the new school bully, who also stole her only friend, because of her hobby of collecting dead things, like animal bones and cicada shells. But she doesn’t mind and adopts the name as a shield against hurt. She lives with her Nonna Frankie in a small apartment, as her Mum is away earning money to give them a better future.
But then two things happen. A new family move into the apartment block, and chatty, colourful Tenny wants to become her friend, and she also finds the intact remains of a bird, and on the night of a full moon wishes that it could come back to life. She gets her wish, but Bird is still just a skeleton and not a real bird. Also Bird talks - and he tells her that he wishes that the curse could be lifted so that he could return to the afterlife. Bones and Tenny then work hard to find out how to accomplish this. But when everything is set can Bones go through with it? She has already lost so much...
This is a beautiful verse novel, that is so easy to read but contains so many themes and ideas. The main themes are friendship and grief, but the gothic magic give it a whole other feel too. Also containing themes of community, upcycling and diverse families, this is an ideal novel for younger secondary students. It certainly could be used as a classroom novel too.
