Arch of bone / Jane Yolen ; illustrated by Ruth Sanderson.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781616963507
- ISBN: 1616963506
- Physical Description: iii, 195 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
- Edition: First edition.
- Publisher: San Francisco : Tachyon, 2021.
- Copyright: ©2021
Content descriptions
Target Audience Note: | 920 Lexile. Reading age : 9-13 years. Grade level : 4-7. 920L Lexile |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Human-animal relationships > Juvenile fiction. Dogs > Juvenile fiction. Sailors > Juvenile fiction. Whales > Juvenile fiction. Nantucket (Mass.) > Juvenile fiction. |
Genre: | Bildungsromans. |
Available copies
- 9 of 9 copies available at Missouri Evergreen. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at North Kansas City.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 9 total copies.
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
North Kansas City Public Library | J YOLEN (Text) | 0001002385431 | JUV Fiction | Available | - |
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Kirkus Review
Arch of Bone
Kirkus Reviews
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Fourteen-year-old Josiah Starbuck of Nantucket becomes marooned on an island with his dog, Zeke. Extemporizing on Moby-Dick (a work with which the target audience is highly unlikely to be familiar), this story opens with a man who tells Josiah to "Call me Ishmael" showing up at the Starbucks' house early one morning to deliver the news to Josiah and his mother that the whaler Pequod, on which Josiah's father shipped out as first mate, went down with all hands except Ishmael. Josiah is understandably upset, but his grief turns (unconvincingly) to anger at Ishmael and his mother. Needing to clear his head, Josiah sets off in his catboat with Zeke and is caught by a storm. Knocked unconscious by the boom, Josiah wakes up to find himself shipwrecked on a tiny, unfamiliar island. He and Zeke eke out their survival on the scrubby island, on which sits a coffin-shaped fisherman's shack and an arch made of a whalebone's jaw--which delivers disturbing dreams to Josiah (the strongest portions of the story) whenever he falls asleep against it. The story's inconsistencies (whether it's early or late spring, wouldn't a boy whose mother makes blueberry jam recognize a blueberry bush out of season? How does Josiah know that Ishmael floated on a coffin when Ishmael did not relate that part of the story?) undermine it, and the two narrative sections--the dreams and Josiah's survival activities--don't transmute into a whole. The exquisite black-and-white illustrations, however, deliver a rich resonance. A beautifully illustrated patchwork. (Historical fantasy/fiction. 10-14) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.