John the Skeleton
by Triinu Laan; illus. by Marja-Liisa Plats; trans. from Estonian by Adam Cullen
Primary, Intermediate    Yonder/Restless    64 pp.
10/24    9781632063700    $19.95

This reflective, folksy book explores concepts of memory, life, death, and everything surrounding them. The story follows a skeleton named John—a discarded educational tool who is taken in and fixed up by an elderly couple, Gramps and Grams. Though a static figure in the illustrations, John is portrayed in the text with liveliness, warmth, and depth; he is described thinking, speaking, and feeling as he offers comfort and companionship to Gramps and Grams and their two grandchildren. With his new family, John bathes, sleds, takes saunas, and even participates in a museum exhibition. At one point, Gramps and Grams plot to bury John with Gramps when he passes away, but Grams dies first. Gramps, grieving, has a magical encounter with Grams’s spirit through the word pähnähäitsmetsäi, which translates to “linden-blossom tea.” He later teaches the word to his grandchildren so that “it can keep them together forever.” The direct third-person present-tense text uses short, vignette-style chapters, adding an immediacy to the telling. The art, using textured shades of gray that appear to be rendered with pencil alongside striking pops of bright pink, creates a feel that is both haunting and fresh. An endnote explains that the book was inspired by another retired classroom skeleton who lives on a farm in the south Estonian countryside.

From the ">November/December 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.