Children's Fiction Mysteries & Detective Stories
Reading the Bones Teachers' Guide
Dundurn Teachers' Guide
- Publisher
- Dundurn
- Initial publish date
- Jul 2012
- Category
- Mysteries & Detective Stories, General, General
- Recommended Age
- 9 to 12
- Recommended Grade
- 4 to 7
- Recommended Reading age
- 9 to 12
-
Unknown
- ISBN
- 9781459708976
- Publish Date
- Jul 2012
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
Short-listed for the 2009 Silver Birch Award, commended for the 2009 Best Books for Kids & Teens
Due to circumstances beyond her control, 12-year-old Peggy Henderson has to move to the quiet town of Crescent Beach, British Columbia, to live with her aunt and uncle. Without a father and separated from her mother, who’s looking for work, Peggy feels her unhappiness increasing until the day she and her uncle start digging a pond in the backyard and she realizes the rock she’s been trying to pry from the ground is really a human skull.
Peggy eventually learns that her home and the entire seaside town were built on top of a 5000-year-old Coast Salish fishing village. With the help of an elderly archaeologist, a woman named Eddy, Peggy comes to know the ancient storyteller buried in her yard in a way that few others can – by reading the bones.
As life with her aunt becomes more and more unbearable, Peggy looks to the old Salish man from the past for help and answers.
About the authors
Gina McMurchy-Barber is the author of three previous books in the Peggy Henderson adventure series: Reading the Bones (shortlisted for the Silver Birch Award), Broken Bones, and Bone Deep. Her novel Free as a Bird was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. She is also a recipient of the Governor General’s Award for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History. Gina lives in Surrey, British Columbia.
Editorial Reviews
... centers its fascinating - and informative - plot on a middle-schooler who uncovers a human skull in her backyard. With help from an archaeologist, she learns her town was built on top of a 5,000 year-old fishing village.
I think kids should read this book because it is quick, easy-to-read, fun and interesting I enjoyed the variety of personalities in the characters. The pictures that I envisioned were vivid, there was lots of details given. The conclusion left me satisfied and it seemed original.
Joe, age 13
It's an entertaining read that also manages – in its story twists relating to the potential fate of precious artifacts – to nudge the reader subtly towards an understanding of the importance of modern cultural resource management.
Black Press
Reading the Bones is an excellent story that shows the importance of the past to the present, but also the importance of learning who you are. Recommended.
CM Magazine
... it is an interesting read and certainly presents some of the enigmatic allure of archaeology in enticing terms.
Resource Links
Other titles by
The Jigsaw Puzzle King
A Bone to Pick
A Peggy Henderson Adventure
Peggy Henderson Adventures 4-Book Bundle
A Bone to Pick / Bone Deep / Broken Bones / Reading the Bones
Bone Deep
A Peggy Henderson Adventure
Peggy Henderson Adventures 3-Book Bundle
Bone Deep / Broken Bones / Reading the Bones
When Children Play
The Story of Right to Play
Broken Bones
A Peggy Henderson Adventure
Free as a Bird
Reading the Bones
A Peggy Henderson Adventure
