Nutmeg Children's Book Award - 2005

Skeleton Man

by Joseph Bruchac

“Once upon a time, there was a greedy and lazy, and yes, evil, uncle, who sat around the longhouse all day waiting for his relatives to return with food. One day while he was waiting; he burned his finger badly in the fire and rushed to cool it by putting it in his mouth. As he did he exclaimed “…Oooh-this tastes good” – and soon he had eaten his own finger. “But I’m still hungry, “ he complained. And so he roasted another finger. And then he roasted a foot in the fire, and then a hand, and so on. Soon he had eaten himself down to the bones. When he moved, the skeleton UNCLE’s bones rubbed together “tshicka, tshicka, tshicka”. “I hope my relatives come home soon” he said in a dry, whispery voice, “because I’m still hungry”.

Molly’s father had told her this Mohawk story often as she was growing up. When Molly’s parents fail to return home one night, and after she spends the next two days waiting for them to return, Social Services sends her to live with her great-uncle. Then she remembers the Skeleton Man story, because her uncle looks just like him! Something is very wrong, and none of her friends or teachers will listen to her. Molly’s uncle, though she is sure she does not have an uncle, says she is thin and he wants to “fatten her up”. At night, when he thinks she’s asleep, he comes creeping softly up the stairs and locks her in her bedroom. And Molly keeps having these dreams, dreams that tell her she must escape and that she is strong enough to do it. Can she? Can she escape?

Discussion Questions
1. The “Skeleton Man” story is an old Native American folktale. Why are folktales important? Did you think Skeleton Man, the book, is scary?
2. Who is Molly named after and what is the significance of her namesake to the story?
3. Molly’s parents were away for a few days before any adults find out about it. Do you think it was safe for her to be alone in the house? What would you have done if left in that situation?
4. How did it make you feel when none of Molly’s teachers, or any other adult, would not listen to her when she told them that something is wrong with her great-uncle?
5. Molly is having a lot of dreams. Do you think her dreams are helping her?
6. Molly is a very brave little girl. Did this book make you think that you could be as brave as she was if you had to be?

Author Information
Joseph Bruchac’s Web site: www.josephbruchac.com
Bowman’s Store: a Journey to Myself by Joseph Bruchac A friend gave me this and even though I didn’t want to read it, because I had to many other books waiting to be read, I couldn’t put it down after the first page.

If you liked this book, you might like:
Colibri by Ann Cameron
Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan
Bandit’s Moon by Sid Fleischman
The Heart of a Chief by Joseph Bruchac
Secret of Dead Man’s Mine by Rodney Johnson
Crispin: Cross of Lead by Avi
Storm Warriors by Elisa Carbone
Walk Across the Sea by Susan Fletcher
Rowan of Rin by Emily Rodda
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth Speare
The Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter

Activities

• The Boy Who Lived With the Bears by Joseph Bruchac is a collection of short Native American folktales. Get a copy, or some other good folktale collection, and read one of the stories. A few of these tales are fun, and would be simple to act out.
• To Native Americans, dreams were messages sent by sacred spirits. According to legend, the hole in the center of a dream catcher web allows good dreams to reach the sleeper, while the web itself traps the bad dreams until they disappear with the first light of morning. Make a dream catcher, instructions are at: http://www.teachersfirst.com/summer/dreamcatcher.htm or try
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/Dreamcatcher.shtml

Prepared by Margaret Borchers
March 2004

Last updated on: 18 September, 2008

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