Since the death of her older brother, 11-year-old Bones spends her time around death. She draws dead animal skeletons and looks for dead things to add to her dead things collection. She has fallen away from her friends and has no wish to make any more. One night under a full wide moon, Bones accidentally resurrects a skeleton of a baby bird. Unfortunately, Bird wants to go back to being dead so Bones agrees to help … not that she knows exactly how. As she and Bird work out magical secrets, Bones starts to remember what it is like to have friends. But how can she let go of her new friend if she doesn’t want to say goodbye again?
I really loved reading Little Bones. Her life is so different to mine – and it was a new experience for me to read about someone who has experienced death like this. Behind this however, it is an amazing story full of friendship, bravery and the power of believing in yourself and learning to trust others. It is a book about teamwork and never giving up, even when things seem hard.
The characters and settings brought out an imagery in the story which made it really easy for me to see Bones’ world and imagine how she was feeling – it gave me shivers. She is an awesome character and the writing made me imagine what it would be like to navigate the world with almost nobody to keep you company.
The thing I liked the most about this story was the friendship between Bones and Bird and how touching that relationship was. I think the moral of this story is to value your friends, keep an open mind and always expect the unexpected. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did! Happy reading!
Reviewed by Catherine, Year 6,
Birchgrove Public School, Birchgrove NSW
Age Guide 9+
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sandy Bigna is a passionate supporter of local children’s literature. She started up the Aussie Kids Books Instagram, which reviews Australian children’s and YA books. She has studied children’s literature at the University of Canberra and worked as a children’s librarian in a public library.
She has been awarded two Varuna Residential Fellowships and her YA manuscript Exposed was shortlisted for the HarperCollins Australia Matilda Children’s Literature Prize in 2020. Little Bones is her debut novel.
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