Skeleton Tree

by Kim Ventrella

Victoria Assanelli (Illustrator)

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. . .

Skeleton Tree by Kim Ventrella is 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.

• ISBN10: 1509828672
• ISBN13: 9781509828678
• Publish Date: 21 September 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Imprint: Macmillan Children's Books
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[Beth C.]

NOTE: SORT OF SPOILERY

Finding good books related to the loss of a sibling, particularly for the middle-grade set, would seem to be difficult. I mean, it hasn't been THAT long that the general public have begun to understand that kids are far more layered than adults tend to give them credit for. Ventrella takes those layers and slowly peels them away to show the depth of love, anger, and frustration involved when a child becomes ill and there is a sibling involved. A sibling that generally tends to get the shaft in terms of affection, understanding, and honesty - especially when the parent is a single mom who is struggling not only to accept her daughter's illness, but to continue to pay the bills. Overall, the story is about love, and realizing when love sometimes means saying goodbye.