Skeleton Man

Joseph bruchac is a native American writer who draws on his Abenaki ancestry, and the lands around the Adirondacks to spin his wonderful tales. Although his American Indian heritage is only one part of an ethnic background that includes Slovak and English blood, those Native roots are the ones by which he has been most nourished. In Skeleton Man, Bruchac delves into an ancient Mohawk Indian legend of the Skeleton Man, who devours himself and everyone around him. In this story, a girl named Molly is forced to live with a creepy great uncle she never knew about before. The man is bony and pale and she is immediately reminded of the Skeleton Man legend, a tale her father once told her about. At night she is locked in her room and haunted by a voice in her dreams. She suspects that his uncle may really be the Skeleton Man but how does she escape? Bruchac carefully builds up the tension and terror for the young girl as the book goes on. Molly, a thoroughly modern adolescent, embraces her Native American heritage and uses it to help her solve the mystery of her parents disappearance and the escalating terror of life in her uncle's house. Bruchac keeps the story moving briskly from beginning to end. A marvelously intelligent and creepy storyline for young readers. In Molly, Bruchac has eschewed the stereotypical female characters and given us a smart, resourceful young lady. Scared yes, but able to deal with her situation and use her wits to escape.

Molly's father told her stories of a man who ate all his flesh and his famlies. Molly feels frightened when her parents are missing and she finds out she has to live with her great uncle who she never even heard of. When she gets to her new home she notices one room thats locked. Only her uncle goes in there. She wonders why her uncle locks her room every night and why there are bars on her room. She starts to have these weird dreams that she thinks connect with her life. It may be her key to find out what happened to her parents. If this book weren't a fantasy then Ithink I would become a vegetarian.(If you think about the stories her dad told her) This book is so suspensful it sends chills up your spine every time you move up and down the stairs. It will becom your friend and your foe.(this is helpful and deceitful)

This book does a number of things very well. The story is tremendously creepy and scary which is something intermediate grade readers always enjoy. Molly is a great character. She is strong and resourceful and ultimately saves herself. She also does something very sensible, intelligent and believable in the context of the story. She TELLS a trusted teacher about her situation and concerns with her "uncle." Even better, the teacher believes her and tries to help. So often as a reader I wonder why a character doesn't just TELL someone they need help. The background of the Native American folktale is terrific. The final scenes are absolutely gripping.

If you buy this book, prepare to have nightmares! It is both scary and good! BUY IT (just don't read it late at night)!

The fictional book The Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac is a mystery that is very good in my opinion and when you start reading you will not want to put the book down. You will get stuck to it because it is so interesting. Some other books that Joseph Bruchac wrote are The Arrow Over The Door and another book that he wrote was Between Earth and Sky. R.L. Stine said "The legend is chilling and the terror builds on every page. The book gave ME nightmares!" This book is about a girl named Molly, when she woke up one morning and saw that her parents were missing she had to move in with her strange great uncle. Molly had never met this person or even talked to him. When she is at his home she starts having dreams. She has dreams about the stories that her father used to tell her. She thinks that the dreams are trying to tell her something but she can not figure them out. These dreams might lead her to danger or give her clues to where her parents might be. This is why you must read this book so you able to find out what these dreams are really trying to tell her and to see what becomes of Molly. I would recommend this book to people that like mysteries because it is so interesting and it will give you something to think about. I would also recommend this book to people that can not read well because the author uses simple words. I think it was a good book and I hope that you like it too.