Review: Precious Bones by Mika Ashley-Hollinger

Precious Bones by Mika Ashley-Hollinger.

Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: May 2012
List Price: $16.99
ISBN-13: 9780385742191

Review: Fights, southern hospitality, and friendship all describe the book Precious Bones written by Mika Ashley-Hollinger. Precious Bones' main character, Bones, lives in a small town during the summer of '49. Come follow Bones' journey as she goes through love, family, friendship, and most of all heartbreak.

Bones is a 10-year old girl who lives in a swamp within a small town near Jacksonville, Florida. She has a best-friend named Little Man and they love each other very much, you can always tell that he loves Bones because he follows her throughout all of her crazy stunts. Bone's dad is very protective over their land so when two Yankees come onto their property asking a bunch of questions, he chases them off with a pistol. Bone's and her dad run into them again with the Reemses brothers. The next day one of the Yankee men is found dead near their house. Bone's and little man are the people who find him along with a hunting knife that looks exactly like Nolay's. Little Man comforts Bones saying that all of the hunting knives in Florida look a-like. Bones and Little Man go to see one of their friends who is an army veteran, Mr. Speed. Soon another man is found dead and all of the signs point to Bones' dad Nolay. One sign leads to another and they find the killer for the murderÉ Do you think Nolay killed them or did someone else? Precious Bones is an okay book throughout most of itÉ But at the end it felt worth it even with all of the less interesting parts in the book. Mika Ashley-Hollinger drags on through most of the book being very descriptive but boring. Once I got used to the southern accent of the book I seemed to get the book more which cause me to enjoy the book overall. Now if you like the descriptive, southern kind of book, I encourage you, read on! But, if otherwise this book might be a book to skip. The only thing appealing to me throughout Precious Bones is the mystery. Hollinger keeps you guessing so that might be worth reading Precious Bones but it might just be a mystery not worthy to read. I only give Precious Bones 3 stars for the descriptiveness throughout the book but the plot and storyline? Not so muchÉ I also give Hollinger props for the way she makes you feel throughout the book. If Bones is sad, you are sad. You feel everything that the characters feel during the book. I was very disappointed during the book until the end where everything was tied together where I felt was ended perfectlyÉ

Review written by Abby (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Raab Associates for providing a copy of Precious Bones for this review.

Have you read Precious Bones? How would you rate it?