Sally's Bones

August 15, 2011

Poised to give up the ghost, a lonely little girl finds a reason to live when she discovers a canine crony with a graveyard past.

With her "blunt-bobbed hair," "chalky white skin" and Tone Death concert T-shirts, Sally Simplesmith doesn't fit in with her pretty-in-pink sixth-grade Merryland Middle School classmates. After ultra-popular Viola Vanderperfect deliberately excludes her from everything, outcast Sally feels, well, "cast out." Lying on her mother's grave, Sally desperately longs for death. Instead, she gets Bones, a "bright-smiling, tail-wagging skeleton dog," sent by her departed mother's spirit. Bones becomes Sally's best friend and savior. Her kind, but detached, father warns Sally to keep the "petrified pooch" a secret, but soon the "cadaverous canine" is exposed, and the "former social leper and her imperishable pet" become "overnight sensations." When all neighborhood dog bones vanish, the D.C. (Dog Catcher) suspects Bones, forcing Sally to take drastic measures to exonerate him and uncover the real culprit. Could it be villainous Viola? Heavily tongue-in-cheek tombstone talk, snappy text, over-the-top melodrama plus a sympathetic heroine equal one hilarious read. Black-and-white spot art highlights skeletal Bones' corporeal personality.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 1, 2011

Gr 4-6-In this mildly macabre yet decidedly entertaining girl-meets-dog story, 11-year-old Sally Simplesmith is mourning the recent loss of her mother and facing life as a social pariah when she calls on her mother's spirit to "Give. Me. Death." Instead, a little skeleton dog with floppy ears and a tongue appears at her side in the graveyard. For a lonely outcast like Sally, lovable Bones is both a cuddly pet and a needed friend, not to mention the perfect antidote to the misery caused by her obnoxious nemesis, the very popular and very vile Viola Vanderperfect. Sally's absent-minded father is well meaning but still dealing with his grief, and his reaction to Bones is more scientific than empathetic. Fortunately, having a "cadaverous canine" for a pet gives Sally's status at Merryland Middle School a needed boost, and for the first time she feels accepted and even liked. But when someone or something starts stealing bones from the neighborhood dogs, all evidence points to Sally's beloved pup, leaving her to figure out the real culprit or lose her pet forever. With its black-and-white illustrations, fast-paced text, whodunit plot, and spot-on depiction of fickle middle-school friendships, this book is sure to appeal to those not yet ready for truly dark fiction.-Teri Markson, Los Angeles Public Library

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2011
Grades 4-6 Writing a novel that tackles tough issues like grief and loss while maintaining a measure of levity is no easy feat, but that is exactly what Cadenhead accomplishes here. Lovable Sally Simplesmith is confronting many of the social problems that are common to the preteen experience: her classmates treat her as though she is invisible, while her father is an oft-absent workaholic. To complicate her plight, Sally is also coping with the very recent death of her mother. While tearfully visiting her mother's grave, she encounters a tiny dog that seems like the solution to her loneliness. The only problem is that her new pooch Bones is a lively little skeleton. When Bones is falsely accused of a crime, his separation from Sally seems inevitable. Spooky without being scary, dark without being morbid, this is a winning tale about loyalty in the face of loss. Dog lovers and fans of storytellers like Neil Gaiman will adore sullen Sally and her dearly departed sidekick.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)