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Andy Reviews: Skeleton Man

Posted by: on: April 7, 2012

Cover of "Skeleton Man"

Cover of Skeleton Man

Welcome to another installment of Andy’s Sack o’ Books.

Skeleton Man By Joseph Bruchac

Skeleton Man has a promising start: Molly’s parents disappear.  We are then treated to the ghoulish Native American legend of the Skeleton Man, and there is the seemingly real possibility that Molly’s uncle may just be that man of little flesh.  And then, sadly, nothing.  Pages and pages of nothing.

I am being harsh.  The skeleton man is to blame.  It’s such a great creepy legend that I was craving more of the same.  But while Molly is not happy to have been taken in by her heretofore unknown uncle, and while she is riddled with suspicion, not much happens.  Her uncle locks her in at night, and she never sees him eat, and he spends a lot of time in his shed, and he never lets her get a good look at him other than his bony hands.  That all sounds like something, but when it’s spread out over a hundred pages or more it makes for slow going.

The biggest problem with Skeleton Man is that, for some reason, Molly has no friends.  There is one teacher who she trusts, sometimes, for brief moments.  But she has no friends her own age.  A friend would have been of great benefit.  Yes, of benefit to Molly, but I was actually thinking of we readers.  Books really need to have interactions between characters.  Skeleton Man has only three characters other than Molly – the teacher, the uncle, and a dream rabbit—and Molly rarely spends any quality time with any of them.  The result is that the vast majority of the book is spent in Molly’s head.  We are treated to her suspicions over and over, but, alas, there is little we can do to help.  Have I mentioned that Molly really could have used a friend?

If you don’t want to know anything about the nature of Molly’s predicament, please ski p the rest of this paragraph.  I shouldn’t really say anything, but it was a big part of why I didn’t enjoy the book.  Far too many books and movies tease their audiences with the suggestion of supernatural happenings, and in the end retreat to the comfort of logical explanations.  I really hate that.  What exactly is wrong with fantasy?  Why should horror stories be entrenched in reality?  And so, despite the promising start to Skeleton Man, when all is said and done the story is your basic Scooby Doo mystery.  And even worse, when you find out what has really been happening, you realize that it simply does not make any sense.

You may have noticed that I did enjoy the skeleton man legend.   And so I would like to address what seems to be a common complaint about this book from certain hand-wringing parents—judging from the handful of negative reviews on Amazon.  These parents found the legend of skeleton man to be too gruesome, and they are adamant that it is not suitable for their precious snowflakes.  Nonsense.  Many European fairy tales are pretty darn gruesome too.  The big bad wolf eats Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, and then the woodsman chops the wolf in half to rescue her.  Or something like that, depending on which version you read.  And then there’s that witch that tries to bake Hansel and Gretel.  So for these parents to get all bent out of shape about the skeleton man legend is a bit ridiculous.  Why are “our” fairy tales suitable for children much younger than the audience at which Skeleton Man is aimed (and yes, I’m making an assumption that most of the complaining parents are of European decent), but this Native American fairy tale is not?  Okay, I’m probably being a little unfair.  It’s probably really more a matter of taking one’s own culture’s fairy tales for granted, but having to process other culture’s fairy tales from scratch.  Well, stop that.  Consider the nature of your own fairy tales before sounding the alarm about this one.

Joseph Bruchac, the author of Skeleton Man, is a prolific author of children’s books.  My wife has recommended another of his books to me, which I am looking forward to reading.  Skeleton Man is written well—I just found the story to be lacking in thrills and—well—logic.

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Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac

Posted by: on: March 29, 2012

One morning Molly wakes to discover her parents have disappeared. Social Services turns Molly over to the care of a great-uncle whom she has never heard of before, a twist which initially made me think of the Baudelaires in The Unfortunate Events. Then Molly starts having dreams about a skeleton man from an old Mohawk tale that her father used to tell her. Within those dreams might lay the answers to where her parents are and why this mysterious man has shown up now to claim himself as a relative. Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac is a deliciously creepy tale, in which nothing is the way it should be. At some point, I even began to wonder if Molly’s reality is what she thinks it to be. Skeleton Man made me want to read more of Joseph Bruchac’s books, of which there are plenty.

Now that I’ve tempted you to read Skeleton Man, let’s talk about its Native American foundation. On the acknowledgement page, Bruchac writes that he couldn’t have written the book without the lessons he’d been taught by tradition bearers. They helped him “understand even more deeply how different the strong women in our traditional American Indian Stories are from the dependent damsels of European folktales who hope for a prince to rescue them. Not only do our Native American heroines take care of their own rescues, they often save the men too!” I grew up loving our European American tales and yet have been surprised through critically evaluating them how dismal some of their messages for females.  My fifth-grade students just finished reading versions of Cinderella from across the world. Except for a Canadian Native tale, every single one of the stories depicted Cinderella as needing a prince to bring her happiness. Perhaps that’s why some of our European American fairy tales are being modernized. What negative messages have you learned from literature? What positive messages have you learned?

Otherwise, the most prevalent way that Native American culture is interwoven into Skeleton Man is through its references to old tales and to dreams.  There are the stories that Molly’s dad told her, which he’d heard growing up on the Mohawk Reserve of the Akwesasne on the Canadian side. One of Molly’s favorites is about the skeleton monster. Its mine too, despite of (or because of) how gruesome it is! The story reminds me of the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. It also reminds of the Goosebump television series by R.L. Stine, which often start with kids sitting around a campfire and telling ghastly stories. What tales did you grow up with hearing from your families?

There are also the “aware” dreams, in which you know you are a dreamer. According to Mohawk tradition, these dreams can help you if you’re alert. Our European American culture used to place higher value on dreams, but these days we tend to put more stock in scientific explanations. The school counselor tells Molly that her problem may be a chemical one and wants to throw a prescription at it. Fortunately, she ignores that advice. How you feel about the way problems are often solved today?

There are other smaller references to Native American culture such as the explanations for Molly’s name and for storms. Last, while Molly finds help from American books and teachers, she also draws upon Mohawk wisdom for guidance: “It doesn’t matter if you are the hunted or the hunter. Sometimes the most important thing you can do in a tough situation is to keep quiet, breathe slowly, and think.”

My rating? Read it: Borrow from your library or a friend. It’s worth your time.

How would you rate this book?

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Author Joseph Bruchac

Posted by: on: March 28, 2012

To kick off my month of reviews of multicultural Golden Sower nominees, I’ll start alphabetically with author Joseph Bruchac. He lives in the small town in Greenfield, New York, which is in the foothills of the Adirondacks. Because the area is close to forests and mountains, he understandably loves it.

Bruchac is blessed to still live in the house where his maternal grandparents raised him. Because his grandmother kept their house filled with books, Bruchac naturally grew up a reader. His grandfather, whom Bruchac considers one of the kindest men he ever met, showed Bruchac how to walk quietly in the woods and how to fish.

As you can see, Bruchac was influenced by both a literary heritage and his Native American roots. In second grade, he started writing poems to his teacher. When she read one to the class, some of the bigger boys got jealous and beat him up. That was Bruchac’s first experience with hostile literary critics, but he didn’t let this stop him from trying to write.

In the fall and winter of his youth, Bruchac sat around the wood stove and listened to the local farmers and lumberjacks tell tall tales. One of those men, Lawrence Older, taught Bruchac the songs and stories he knew about the Adirondacks. Much of Bruchac’s writing draws on that land and his Abenaki ancestry.

In the two books of his which I read, it’s clear that Bruchoc believes in the benefits of a good education. He himself holds three degrees, including an M.A. in Literature and Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature. While pursuing his first degree, Bruchac signed up for a writing class. Three weeks later, the instructor told him to give up writing because he would never write a good poem.

Bruchac instead kept writing and started dabbling in poetry with Native American themes. Around that time, Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe, became one of Bruchac’s greatest inspirations and dearest mentors. Bruchac tries to follow his example by portraying his own Native people honestly and countering the bad images other writers have created in the past. Eventually, when Bruchac was grown and had children of his own, he also turned to telling Native American stories.

The list of Joseph Bruchac’s writing accomplishments is staggering, causing me to wonder how it took me this long to discover his books.

  • His poems, stories, and articles have appeared in over 500 publications.
  • He has authored more than 120 books for adults and children.
  • He has edited a number of highly praised anthologies of contemporary poetry and fiction. Anthologies in the “Keepers” series, with their integration of science and folklore, have received critical acclaim and are used in classrooms throughout the country.

In addition to his accolades as an author, Bruchac has other credits:

His work as an educator includes eight years of directing a college program for Skidmore College inside a maximum security prison.

  • With his late wife, Carol, he founded the Greenfield Review Literary Center and The Greenfield Review Press.
  • With his younger sister and his two grown sons, he continues to work extensively in projects involving the preservation of Abenaki culture, and language and traditional Native skills, including performing traditional and contemporary Abenaki music with the Dawnland Singers.
  • As a professional teller of the traditional tales of the Adirondacks and the Native peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Bruchac has performed widely throughout the United States and even in Europe.

The above information I compiled from mostly from online biographies. I encourage you to also check these interviews:

Tomorrow I’ll be back with reviews of Skeleton Man and of Code Talker.

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Transcendent Published by Robot Playground

Posted by: on: March 18, 2012



In the deluge of young adult paranormal about supernatural beings such as vampires and werewolves and more recently witches and angels, ghosts seem be a forgotten commodity. Transcendent, an anthology of eight stories by mostly new authors, helps fill in that gap. Included in its round-up are also stories which feature death, shape-shifters, and sirens.

Let’s start with one of the exceptions to ghost tales. My absolute favorite story is Seduction of a Siren by Lanie Woodland and Melanie Piper. Despite the abundance of middle grade fiction available about mythological creatures, one also doesn’t see all that many tales about sirens—temptresses who lures sailors with their voices to shipwreck on their island. This particular entry is a delicious blend of the romantic and the horrific. Seduction of a Siren opens with a kiss. Very quickly, Jason’s illusion of being seduced by a beautiful kisser are dashed by the introduction of “a grotesque and distorted monster, fit for nothing but a nightmare”. Or is that image also an illusion? Lanie Woodland is an established author with three novels in her repertoire. I look forward to checking them out!

As for the ghost tales, I enjoyed the sweet romance called The Pumpkin Thief. If you’re familiar with horror movies, you won’t find it new that the main female character feels nervous about walking alone to her friend’s party, because some guy had followed her home, whistling and making vulgar comments. You also won’t feel surprised to see Kira make her way to a quiet corner at her friend’s party, where she tires of seeing couples making out all around and so slips out for a walk.  Yet despite these familiar elements, Joseph does a nice job of creating a creepy atmosphere partly through his writing style and partly by throwing in a new element: When Kira goes to fetch a pumpkin that she’d carved for a contest, all that’s left is a blown out candle stub. As for the romance, it’s handled in such a humorous way that I forgave Joseph for not surprising me with its ending.

One of the darker ghost stories is Ryan’s Wish. Even before Ryan had become Irelan’s official boyfriend, he had been her everything. Two years earlier, he had ridden off on his dirt bike into the woods near her home and never returned. When the story opens, Irelan is celebrating her birthday, but also still chasing after every guy who looks or acts like Ryan. Then on her birthday, Irelan is surprised not only with a party but by the reappearance of Ryan. Problem is, Ryan is acting and looking odd.

I won’t tell reveal anything more, except to note that by this point in the anthology I’d started to tire of a few clichés in teen stories: loud parties, outcast loners, and hunky guys. Is there anyone besides me who didn’t attend keggers as a teen? Or is there anyone besides me who appreciated reading books about well-adjusted adolescents because they could show one how to live? And, on the flip side, what exactly is wrong with awkward first kisses, sweaty palms, pimply faces, and stammering dates?

Of the stories that I didn’t highlight but would recommend: Feather is about a Native American who tries to flee her heritage, Shadows of Promise is about unsolved murder, and Kiss of Death is about a stalker. Overall, not only does Transcendent offer plenty of quality alternatives to vampires and werewolves, but it also features promising authors whose future works would be worth checking out.

My rating? Read it: Borrow from your library or a friend. It’s worth your time.

How would you rate this book?

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Unlocked Published by Robot Playground

Posted by: on: March 17, 2012



The preface of Unlocked reads: “Each key will open a door, some leading to new worlds, others hiding secrets better left forgotten, and still holding dreams to be shared.” After reading this anthology, you’ll never think about your keys in the same way again!

In one of my surprise favorite stories, Assassin by Jaimey Grant, the main female character Sable wears a key around her neck as her only connection to her murdered parents. The story is about a trained killer, which doesn’t make for my typical fare. I should detest Sable who ironically hates it when a killing goes smoothly, because it’s “like thumbing one’s nose at the devil, taunting him to do his worst”. Yet I don’t. After all, she knows the “devil’s worst and has since made it her goal to never go through that again”. Does that mean I like Sable? Not really. Nor do I particularly like Etienne, who was hired to clean up any mistakes Sable made. This is one of those rare stories where I can appreciate who the killers are without loving or hating them. I know this goes against the norm, because then who or what do we root for? I don’t particularly want either of them to die, but I also know that this would be right. This is a tough balance for an author to pull off, but Jaimey Grant does it.

In the rest of the stories in Unlocked, the main characters were basically good but for the most part no less intriguing. For example, another story which I really liked featured a female robot. In Symbiote by Rita Webb, RW1211 risks breaking company rules by sneaking out at night to watch the stars. The tale takes on a darker tone, when the models in her department are deemed obsolete and so are slated for early retirement—that is, recycling followed by incineration. Because of how skillfully this science fiction story is crafted, it reminded me of how genre stories can subtly present messages about societal problems. Yes, fantasy and science fiction can awe readers with cool creatures and powers and effects. They also can indirectly make a point about our world, which ultimately gives them their substance.

Most of the stories in Unlocked also rely on an unexpected revelation. For surprise twists to work, an author needs to effectively build up suspense and then produce a satisfying end. Some of the authors whose works are featured were less successful than others. For example, I knew how Crop Circles by Wendy Swore would end. And when the ending came, it read even sillier than I anticipated. While I wasn’t as prepared for the ending in Where They Belong by Paige Ray, it was the most disappointing. At the start, Claire receives a nasty letter from her former friends. Then when her mom takes her for a drive, Claire finds a key that changes her life. Already, I have two problems. First, there is no reason for her friends to suddenly turn so vile. Second, how she finds the key is convoluted: “She jumped out of the car as they parked and stumbled over the sidewalk. Her mom had parked close to the cliff’s edge, and Clara rolled, about to fall over the cliffs edge.” As she braces herself, she finds the key. Ugh! My last problem is that Clara’s problems are too conveniently solved. Beyond these two examples, the surprise twists worked better. For example, Shoshanna by teen writer K.G. Borland starts out as a romance between an angel and an earthling, but ends up creeping me out. Borland is working on his first novel, which sounds like good news to me. I’m hoping to hear more about fallen angel Gabe!

Unlike Transcendent Tales, also published by Robot Playground, Unlocked isn’t being advertised as containing stories from one genre. Instead, the back cover describes this anthology as a varied collection of fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and fanciful tales of school. While this is all true, I still felt chilled by the time I read the last page. Indeed, the best compliment I can give to Unlocked is that now I feel happy for night lights.

My rating? Read it: Borrow from your library or a friend. It’s worth your time.

How would you rate this book?

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Looking Ahead

The end of my thematic review months is coming to a close. Starting mid-May, I'll review an assortment of books.

  • May 22: Regine's Book by Regine Stokke
  • May 25: Zoo Station, true story by Christiane F.
  • May 29: Boy 21 by Matthew Quick
  • June 1: Sort of Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick

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Thirty days. Average of 2000 words per day. A total of 58,600 words. I am a NaNoWrimo Winner in 2012.

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