Skeleton Man

For the Read Woke challenge, I needed a book from a Native American voice. I went to Debbie Reese's blog (American Indians in Children's Literature) since I am familiar with her being an outspoken voice about the need for authentic voices, and I wanted to pick a book that was an accurate Native American voice. I found several books that looked good, but I had a difficult time finding any available on ebook through my library. Finally I found the author Joseph Bruchac, who has written many books, and one of his that was available was Skeleton Man. It is about Molly, a sixth grader whose parents suddenly go missing. When an apparent long-lost great uncle claims her from the police station, she starts to see similiarities to the Mohawk tribal myth of skeleton man. With help from her dreams, she comes up with a plan to get away and save her parents.

I really enjoyed this book. It's been a long time since I read a creepy/scary story (Mary Downing Hahn were favorites of mine as a kid), and this book was right up my alley since it was written for middle grade kids and wasn't too scary. At the beginning, I was distracted by the writing style not being quite as well written as some other authors, but soon enough I was engaged in the story and anxious to see what happened. It was a quick read, and I liked how things turned out thanks to a clever child heroine. I also loved the Native American perspective--getting some introduction into a tribe and its culture/stories. This is not a book I would have read without the Read Woke challenge, but now I'm glad I did. I just saw there is a sequel, and I'm probably going to read it if the library has it on ebook. :)

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)