Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s A Secret of Birds & Bone is a dark, magical mystery for 9 year olds that begins in a house built entirely from bones.<\/p>\n
Sofia wakes on her twelfth birthday in a bed made of shin bones, under a canopy of gilded toe bones. It sounds creepy, but to her it’s simply home.<\/p>\n
Her mamma is the finest bone builder in Siena. She makes delicate boxes for the cathedral’s saints’ relics, and brooches, door handles and even whole rooms. Only her children know her real secret. What she makes carries something of the person the bones belonged to. A widow’s brooch made from her husband’s rib beats like a second heart!<\/p>\n
For a year Mamma has worked behind a closed door, frightened and far away. It started the night a veiled woman with a magpie on her shoulder gave her an order she couldn’t refuse.<\/p>\n
On Sofia’s birthday Mamma promises it’s finally over. She gives Sofia a tiny bone locket shaped like the cathedral tower, tells her to keep it safe, and heads into the city.<\/p>\n
Sofia and Ermin, her younger brother, sneak after her to the Palio, the great horse race they’ve never been allowed to see. Then Mamma bursts out of the palace, chased by guards and their magpies, and runs straight across the track as the horses come.<\/p>\n
It’s a gorgeous, strange world to spend time in. There’s lavender honey and olive groves, magpies that seem to see everything, and a grumpy crow called Corvith who can squawk Sofia’s name. The writing is rich and careful, so it suits a confident reader who likes to sink into a place.<\/p>\n
Sofia herself is easy to love. She’s impatient with her brother, fiercely protective of him and full of guilt. Was it her fault Mamma got caught? That question sits with her, and your reader will feel it too.<\/p>\n
It’s worth knowing there’s a lot here for a sensitive reader. Bones and skulls are everywhere (Corvith sleeps in one). The city is still getting over smallpox, and Ermin was very ill with it. Mamma is dragged away by guards in front of her children, and the two of them are then taken to a convent orphanage. Nothing is graphic, but the fear of being without a parent runs right through it.<\/p>\n
If your reader loves a spooky, atmospheric adventure with a brave big sister at its heart, this is a real treat.<\/p>\n
For more of Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s cold, fairy-tale kind of magic, try The Way Past Winter. Four brothers and sisters are getting by alone in a snowbound forest after their papa leaves, in a winter that arrived five years ago and never left.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s A Secret of Birds & Bone is a dark, magical mystery for 9 year olds that begins in a house built entirely from bones. Sofia wakes on her twelfth birthday in a bed made of shin bones, under a canopy of gilded toe bones. It sounds creepy, but to her it’s simply […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12168,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":9510,"lr_next_read_anchor":"The Way Past Winter","lr_seo_hook":"A house built of bones, a birthday locket and a mamma in danger."},"book_tag":[1045],"age_group":[24],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[578],"class_list":["post-6694","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-adventure-books","age_group-books-for-9-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-kiran-millwood-hargrave"],"yoast_title":"A Secret of Birds & Bone by Kiran Millwood Hargrave | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"A house built of bones, a birthday locket and a mamma in danger. For ages 9+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n