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A review by hollowspine
The Bone Snatcher by Charlotte Salter
3.0
Well, that was different and fun!
I enjoyed the strong, curious and stubborn main character Sophie, who wants to be a storyteller. When she ends up on a crazy island, forced into a job lobbing bones to nasty beasties, which surround the island, she doesn't give up hope, but instead sets out to solve the island's mystery. When another member of the crazy family residing on the island offers her a deal, she takes it and begins the search for something called the Monster Box, an artifact that should hold the answer to the mysterious sea illness which caused her parents to sell her off as an servant rather than have to live near the sea anymore.
But, not everyone on the island wants the Monster Box found. In fact, the Battleship and her two sons, very evil versions of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, will do everything in their power to keep her from succeeding...maybe even kill her!
Will Sophie's storytelling, cleverness and tenacity be enough to get her off this wretched, falling apart island?
Fun details, I think kids would especially enjoy the description of the mansion with all of it's bizarre rooms, traps and secrets. As well as the fact that it's just plain weird, there are tentacle monsters, a twisty plot that keeps you guessing and a bunch of bizarre characters. Grades 6+, for those who liked The Dark is Rising series or Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix, check this one out. It also reminded me a bit of a Teen series I read by Edward Carey, this first one is called Heap House and is about a mansion in the middle of a rubbish heap (which even though it is in teen would be okay for 6th grade up too.)
I enjoyed the strong, curious and stubborn main character Sophie, who wants to be a storyteller. When she ends up on a crazy island, forced into a job lobbing bones to nasty beasties, which surround the island, she doesn't give up hope, but instead sets out to solve the island's mystery. When another member of the crazy family residing on the island offers her a deal, she takes it and begins the search for something called the Monster Box, an artifact that should hold the answer to the mysterious sea illness which caused her parents to sell her off as an servant rather than have to live near the sea anymore.
But, not everyone on the island wants the Monster Box found. In fact, the Battleship and her two sons, very evil versions of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, will do everything in their power to keep her from succeeding...maybe even kill her!
Will Sophie's storytelling, cleverness and tenacity be enough to get her off this wretched, falling apart island?
Fun details, I think kids would especially enjoy the description of the mansion with all of it's bizarre rooms, traps and secrets. As well as the fact that it's just plain weird, there are tentacle monsters, a twisty plot that keeps you guessing and a bunch of bizarre characters. Grades 6+, for those who liked The Dark is Rising series or Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix, check this one out. It also reminded me a bit of a Teen series I read by Edward Carey, this first one is called Heap House and is about a mansion in the middle of a rubbish heap (which even though it is in teen would be okay for 6th grade up too.)