While walking in the woods with her dog and her father, elementary school-aged Annabelle discovered a bone. Wondering if it had once belonged to an animal like a deer, a bear, or a wolf, curious Annabelle asks to take the bone home. Once the bone is cleaned and germ-free, Annabelle adds a ribbon and names it “Boney.” For the rest of the day, Boney has a seat at the table, a shoebox bed, and a trip in the wagon to the park. That night, Annabelle (white) dreams of running with a deer, a bear, and a wolf. In the morning, something is different, and she notices in the mirror that her face is sad. Unable to articulate her feelings, she heads to the backyard with her neighbor friend. Sitting with her sadness, Annabelle sees that her dog, Scoot, has dug a small hole in the dirt. Annabelle solemnly and suddenly puts Boney in the hole, with her friend helping to cover the bone with dirt. In an awkward, poetic, and believably child-centric moment, the two friends have a fleeting acknowledgment of existentialism before dashing off to the park to play. This quiet and quirky picture book sensitively explores one child’s earnest imagination and understanding of life’s hard realities. (Ages 5-9)

Annabelle discovers an animal bone in the woods and decides to make it her new plaything. But nature ends up moving Annabelle in mysterious ways.

At first, Boney, as Annabelle names him, makes the perfect companion. While Mom is busy with the baby, Boney and Annabelle share a meal, play at the park, and share a bedtime story before Annabelle tucks Boney into his shoebox-bed for the night.

But when creatures run wild through her dreams, Annabelle considers for the first time where Boney really belongs.

This thought-provoking story by award-winning picture-book creators Cary Fagan and Dasha Tolstikova encourages a deeper sense of wonder about the natural world and celebrates the wilderness that lives within us all.

Key Text Features

illustrations

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3
With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.