Boney
by Cary Fagan ; illus. by Dasha Tolstikova
Preschool       G     roundwood    32 pp.       g
10/22     978-1-77306-548-9     $18.99
e-book ed.  978-1-77306-550-2    $16.99

While hiking, Annabelle and her father discover a bone. “‘A bone from an animal?’ Annabelle asked.” At home they give the bone a good scrub, and Annabelle ties a ribbon around it. She takes “Boney” to the park and pushes it in a swing, and slides down the slide with Boney in her lap. That night she dreams about the deer, bear, or wolf that Boney might have come from, and she wakes up feeling sad. She buries Boney in her yard and recites a poem she creates for the occasion: “The deer and the bear and the wolf are running. And I am running with them.” The story closes with Annabelle and a friend going to the park together. Fagan’s storytelling is simple but deeply felt. The direct prose, much of it dialogue, and Tolstikova’s childlike ­mixed-media illustrations convey the emotional depth of the seemingly small experience and Annabelle’s thoughtful nature.

From the November/December 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.