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Short-listed for the 2009 Silver Birch Award, commended for the 2009 Best Books for Kids & Teens
Due to circumstances beyond her control, 12-year-old Peggy Henderson has to move to the quiet town of Crescent Beach, British Columbia, to live with her aunt and uncle. Without a father and separated from her mother, who’s looking for work, Peggy feels her unhappiness increasing until the day she and her uncle start digging a pond in the backyard and she realizes the rock she’s been trying to pry from the ground is really a human skull.
Peggy eventually learns that her home and the entire seaside town were built on top of a 5000-year-old Coast Salish fishing village. With the help of an elderly archaeologist, a woman named Eddy, Peggy comes to know the ancient storyteller buried in her yard in a way that few others can – by reading the bones.
As life with her aunt becomes more and more unbearable, Peggy looks to the old Salish man from the past for help and answers.
— Joe, age 13
... centers its fascinating - and informative - plot on a middle-schooler who uncovers a human skull in her backyard. With help from an archaeologist, she learns her town was built on top of a 5,000 year-old fishing village.
It's an entertaining read that also manages – in its story twists relating to the potential fate of precious artifacts – to nudge the reader subtly towards an understanding of the importance of modern cultural resource management.
— Alex Browne
... it is an interesting read and certainly presents some of the enigmatic allure of archaeology in enticing terms.
— Margaret Mackey
Reading the Bones is an excellent story that shows the importance of the past to the present, but also the importance of learning who you are. Recommended.
— Daphne Hamilton-Nagorsen
Gina McMurchy-Barber was the recipient of the 2004 Governor General's Award for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History. Prior to teaching, she majored in archaeologist at Simon Fraser University, studied orangutans in Borneo's jungles with Dr. Birute Galdikas, and led backpack tours to Asia and South America. She lives in Surrey, British Columbia.