When Stanley Stanwright finds a bone poking out of the earth in his back garden, he is determined to take a picture of it and send it to the Young Discoverer's Competition, thinking it will help bring his dad back home. But the bone begins to grow, reaching up out of the ground until it turns into a skeleton - a skeleton with an unusual interest in his unwell younger sister Miren.
As time wears on, Miren's condition worsens, and the only time she is truly at peace is when she is playing with the skeleton. But Stanley is wary of him, especially when he finally manages to get a picture, and spots a scythe at the skeleton's feet. . .
A whimsical, heartfelt story about a boy who finds a friend in Death with the help of an unusual tree growing in his back garden. With black line illustrations throughout by Victoria Assanelli.
About the Author
Kim Ventrella is a children's librarian, and a lover of weird, whimsical stories of all kinds. She lives in Oklahoma City. Skeleton Tree is her debut novel.
Victoria Assanelli loves drawing all things whimsy and dreamlike. She originally trained as a textile designer, but her love of books and drawing led her to pursue illustration. She is from Buenos Aires in Argentina.
Industry Reviews
When white, zombie-obsessed, 12-year-old Stanly discovers a human skeleton growing up from his
backyard-beginning as a single fingertip-he sees opportunity.Photographing and writing about this,
he reasons, may lead to winning the Young Discoverer's Prize, which will bring Dad back from 1,500
miles away, and then his little sister, Miren, might stop getting sicker. This ambitious debut story of
magical thinking keeps a mostly light tone despite the worsening gravity of Miren's health throughout. It
is peppered with whimsical asides and anatomical jokes in addition to homespun tales from Ms.
Francine, part-time cook and child care helper from Kyrgyzstan. Stanly tries to keep his (literally) growing
secret confined to his OCD-diagnosed best friend, Jaxon (who has a "cloud of black hair" but is otherwise
racially unidentified). Miren quickly finds out, but although she can't keep a secret, overworked,
underpaid, and worried Mom is literally unable to see the skeleton, dubbed Princy by Miren. Conversely,
the wise, folkloric Ms. Francine reacts, from the first phalangeal breakthrough, "like she was
remembering something sad and happy all at once." The close-third-person narrative doggedly
expresses Stanly's struggles with conflicting thoughts and emotions-but also keeps action rolling.
Stanly copes well with problems ranging from the mundane (ineffectual cameras) to the extraordinary
(photographing an evasive skeleton) to the heart-wrenching (a gravely ill sister; burdened parents). The
emotional roller coaster of a contemporary white family in crisis, tempered by a touch of magic and a
resilient, likable protagonist. -- Kirkus Reviews * Kirkus Reviews *
