Skinny Bones
Written by Barbara Park
Reviewed by Jordan W. (age 9) & Moeko N. (age 9)
Are you talented in anything? Well the boy in this story, Alex Frankovitch is very talented, but he is also a liar, and likes jokes too. He sometime overreacts. Like the time when he dumped all the Kitty Fritters out of the bag to find the blank form to enter the Kitty Fritters contest. He did this for a joke. Then Alex heard his cat Fluffy scratching on the door. "Open this door Alex, RIGHT NOW!" yelled Fluffy. "Oh great, now Fluffy can talk!" he thought. But was it really Fluffy kicking the door and yelling?
Alex thinks he's the best baseball player in the school. But then a new boy moves to town named T.J. Stoner. T.J. is really good at baseball. Much better than Alex. He started to become very popular. Once he even called Alex Skinny Bones and punched him in the stomach.
Alex got really mad at T.J. and saw him bragging about how good he is at pitching. This time Alex couldn't take it any more so he yelled to his friend Brian, "Hey Brian, remember my coach said I was the best pitcher in the league?" T.J. saw him and started to brag even more. You have to read the book to find out what happened between Alex and T.J. and why he's called Skinny Bones.
I (Jordan) think this is a great book because Alex tries to make deals with God, and it reminds me of when I go to temple and we talk to God. My favorite part was when Alex and T.J. had a pitching contest and Alex wished that there would be a total eclipse and kept trying to stall time because he knew he was going to lose the game. My favorite character was T.J. because he was good at baseball and so am I, plus he was a pitcher and I am too.
I (Moeko) liked this book a lot because it has a surprise ending and it had a big lesson in it too. The lesson is don't brag about something when you can't do it, and don't show off. This book taught me a lot. I liked the part when Alex's cat was scratching the door and talking, but do you think he was really talking or was it someone else? My favorite character was Alex because he was the funny one because he tries to make deals with God, but it never comes true.
We recommend this book to grade one, two, and three, because it teaches us a powerful lesson. First grade parents will have to read this book to their children because it has 112 pages and the print is very small. Some words might be a bit hard too. If you like baseball, Skinny Bones is a great book for you.