Sonderbooks Book Review of By These Ten Bones

Reviewed February 5, 2005.
Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2005. 229 pages.
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2005 (#2, Young Adult Historical Fiction)

I got to read a review copy of Clare Dunkle’s latest book. I’m going to post the review now, since the book is already available to preorder on Amazon.com.

Some travelers come to Maddie’s small highland village. One is an old drunkard, but another is a young man with haunting eyes who’s not much older than she is. The young man is a wonderfully skilled wood carver, but he doesn’t talk to anyone. The old man gets himself locked up, and that night Maddie hears something scuffling and searching outside her house. She throws an iron spade at a black shape in their open doorway, and the whole village is wakened by an inhuman shrieking and wailing.

When the men investigate in the early morning light, they find the wood carver, wounded and torn by some huge animal, and pale and feverish. Maddie’s mother tends him over the next days, and Maddie gets him to talk. In the following weeks, Maddie has fearful dreams and learns that the carver has a dark secret. She may be able to help him, if she can find the courage.

This book got off to a slow start, beginning with the rich background of the long-ago Highland village. This background is so detailed and authentic, I’m going to call this book historical fiction rather than fantasy fiction. This is how it would have been if the legends of werewolves were actually true.

I decided to read the book aloud to my 10-year-old, and we both enjoyed it. He especially liked it “because werewolves are cool.” I liked the way Maddie had an authentic Catholic perspective, as a girl would have in Scotland in those days. The village priest was a kind, fatherly figure who could give her advice, although if he had learned of the evil, he would have had to destroy it. She must decide what is right within the context of her faith, and that struggle is totally authentic.

A story of the battle between good and evil as it might have really been.

Reviews of other books by Clare B. Dunkle:
The Hollow Kingdom
Close Kin
In the Coils of the Snake
The Sky Inside

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Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

*****By These Ten Bones*

by Clare B. Dunkle