Bone's Gift by Angie Smibert (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Bone's Gift by Angie Smibert
2018 [256p] (Ghosts of Ordinary Objects)
Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-62979-850-9 $17.95
E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-68437-136-5 $7.99
Reviewed from galleys R* Gr. 5-8
It's 1942 in Appalachian Virginia, and the draft for World War II is leaving the mines stripped of workers and families stripped of fathers. Twelve-year-old Bone, whose father is among the drafted, is being sent to stay with her hyperreligious aunt and cousin while he is away. Bone has a Gift—when she touches an object, she can see the stories associated with it, and she's known for being a great storyteller. When she finds a note saying that her mother's Gift may be what killed her, Bone grows afraid of her own abilities. This mystical mystery makes good use of its World War II backdrop, with sure-fire markers of the times ranging from Pearl Harbor to Negro League Baseball. It also effectively evokes the Appalachian culture with written dialect and a cultural emphasis on storytelling that'll snag even history-resistant readers. Readers will definitely invest in Bone's journey with her mama's butter-yellow sweater, trusting that it will lead her to the answers she desires—a truth that'll change just about everything. No worries about what's to come for Bone and her family, though; Bone's Gift is just the opening installment of the Ghosts of Ordinary Objects trilogy. MK [End Page 354]
