CLEAR (Children’s Lit Evaluation And Review)

Title: A Box of Bones
Author: Marina Cohen
Illustrator: Yana Bogatch
Publisher: Roaring Brook Rivers
Copyright: 2019
Hardback X Paperback Board Book Number of Pages
Fiction X Nonfiction
Age/Grade: 5th through 6th Grade
Format: Chapter
Illustration Type: Line Drawings/Black and White
Illustration Rating: Good
Genres: Adventure/Fantasy/Suspence
Literary Merit: Good
Characterization: Good
Evaluation: Reservations
Worch Memorial Library Reviewer: Patty Simon Date: 5/4/2020
Review: I enjoyed the book but the ending seemed confusing to me and hard to follow. I did enjoy the characters and their develop through out the book especially the main character and her father. ( )

This was a thoroughly enjoyable book, and I would highly recommend to middle-grade readers. The story is interwoven with another story set in another time and place, and it is fun to see how the two stories become grow together despite being separate stories. The main character, Kallie, is very logical and has no interest or patience for anything imaginative and not based in the bare facts, until she comes across a mysterious puzzle box. She becomes obsessed with figuring out how the box works, and why it seems to be causing so much disaster in her day-to-day life. This was a fun read, and I enjoyed how the author developed the main character through her struggles and the side story. I give this a 4 out of 5 stars. ( )

I loved the idea of the box of bones -- a really original concept. I had a hard time identifying with the main character because she was so extremely fact-oriented. I also didn't think the two story lines really came together in the end in a way that made sense to me. But while I was reading. I was really hooked, and could hardly put the book down. ( )