Precious Bones (review)

In 1949, on the outskirts of a lush Florida swamp, ten-year-old Bones finds plenty to occupy her time. For pets, she's got three dogs, a pig, a goat, and a raccoon. For friends, she's got Little Man, who's a year older than her, and Mr. Speed, a young man who has suffered some brain damage in the war but is still a wealth of knowledge about the wildlife in Florida. Most important, though, she has her sensible mama, Lori, and her storytelling, fun-loving father, Nolay. Nolay is "mighty proud to be a cracker" and to be part Miccosukee Indian, and he doesn't take kindly to a pair of real estate men from New York who come sniffing around for cheap property to buy. When one of the men goes missing and another is found dead, Nolay is arrested, and Bones is desperate to find out what really happened. Against the backdrop of the murder mysteries is a detailed portrait of a bygone lifestyle, where girls and boys learn to use a gun when they're six and spend their days outdoors, fishing, frog gigging, and visiting their neighbors, including a visit to Nolay's family's Miccosukee village. Bones is a sure-footed tour guide through this untamed landscape, wide-eyed but never twee, competent but aware of her own limitations. Her summer is one of somewhat reluctant growth, as she begins to sort out her father's fanciful tales of swamp lore from the more prosaic truth and faces the loss of a dear friend while coming to terms with real adult evil. Her father in turn faces his own need to develop a more mature outlook as he realizes the impact his words and behavior have on his maturing daughter. The last line of each chapter telegraphs plot twists, introducing some suspense in a tale that will already hold high interest for nature-loving readers longing for their own wild playgrounds.