ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
INTERMEDIATE FICTION
Laan, Triinu

John the Skeleton

64 pp. | Restless | October, 2024 | Trade ISBN 9781632063700 $19.95
(2) 4-6 Translated by Adam Cullen. Illustrated by Marja-Liisa Plats. This reflective, folksy book explores concepts of memory, life, death, and everything surrounding them. The story follows a skeleton named John -- a discarded educational tool who is taken in and fixed up by an elderly couple, Gramps and Grams. Though a static figure in the illustrations, John is portrayed in the text with liveliness, warmth, and depth; he is described thinking, speaking, and feeling as he offers comfort and companionship to Gramps and Grams and their two grandchildren. With his new family, John bathes, sleds, takes saunas, and even participates in a museum exhibition. At one point, Gramps and Grams plot to bury John with Gramps when he passes away, but Grams dies first. Gramps, grieving, has a magical encounter with Grams's spirit through the word pahnahaitsmetsai, which translates to "linden-blossom tea." He later teaches the word to his grandchildren so that "it can keep them together forever." The direct third-person present-tense text uses short, vignette-style chapters, adding an immediacy to the telling. The art, using textured shades of gray that appear to be rendered with pencil alongside striking pops of bright pink, creates a feel that is both haunting and fresh. An endnote explains that the book was inspired by another retired classroom skeleton who lives on a farm in the south Estonian countryside.
Reviewer: Elisa Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

RELATED 

INTERMEDIATE FICTION

The Republic of Birds
by Miller, Jessica
INTERMEDIATE FICTION

Atlantis
by Mone, Gregory
INTERMEDIATE FICTION

It Doesn't Take a Genius
by Rhuday-Perkovich, Olugbemisola
INTERMEDIATE FICTION

Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls
by Rivera, Kaela
INTERMEDIATE FICTION

Soul Lanterns
by Kuzki, Shaw
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?