THE BONE KEEPER
by McDONALD, MEGAN
- New
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- New/New
- ISBN 10
- 0789425599
- ISBN 13
- 9780789425591
- Seller
-
Austin, Texas, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
DK Publishing, 1999. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. New/New. G. Brian Karas color illustrations. CONDITION: NEW 1999 DK Publishing hardcover (pictorial boards) & dust jacket, first edition, first printing. Magical, thoughtful color illustrations by G. Brian Karas. CONTENT: [This book is not for every child - it requires a reader who can appreciate a slow-moving, mystical text and illustrations. IMHO.] The Bone Woman searches the barren desert for bones to create a wondrous creature, in a story inspired by creation myths from various desert cultures. In a mythic narrative voice accompanied by primitive images, McDonald describes a mysterious old woman who sifts sand to find bones. Readers can almost hear a drumbeat accompaniment to the text: "Like the desert pack rat,/ the harvester ant,/ Bone Woman lives deep in a cave,/ a cave cluttered with bones, bones." Against an off-white chalkiness that suggests a sun-bleached skull, the crone's stooped silhouette seeks tiny bone pieces of long-dead creatures. "Some say Bone Woman brings the dead back to life," whispers the unseen narrator, who tells how the Bone Woman assembles "spine of snake, skull of lizard.../ claw of badger,/ wishbone of owl,/ wing bone of bat" into the skeleton of a wolf that, accompanied by Bone Woman's wailing and dancing, is reborn and lopes off into the night. Karas, in a departure from the pencil-cartoon style of Raising Sweetness, takes a minimalist approach to the dreamlike, ceremonial prose. He chooses excessively thick media that could be mud or clay, then shapes it like plaster or marks it with indentations. The illustrations in sandstone brown and pale yellow hues offer nary a hint of plant life, and their heavy, relief-sculpture quality acts as a counterbalance to the text's airy mysticism. Although this tale of death and creation is not attributed to a particular native tradition, the iconic art evokes prehistoric times and adds weight to the storyteller's hypnotic chant. Ages 7+.
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Details
- Bookseller
- pacaritambo books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 003649
- Title
- THE BONE KEEPER
- Author
- McDONALD, MEGAN
- Illustrator
- G. Brian Karas color illustrations
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- New New
- Jacket Condition
- New
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Edition 1st Printing
- ISBN 10
- 0789425599
- ISBN 13
- 9780789425591
- Publisher
- DK Publishing
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1999
- Keywords
- 9780789425591, Prehistoric tribal legends of the desert, Desert Dwellers, Animals of the desert, Southwestern deserts, Desert nature, mystical desert tales, Desert wolves, skeletons, skeleton bones, restoration of life,
- Bookseller catalogs
- Native America: Folklore; Ancient Americas: Anasazi; Children's Books: Folklore, Mythology; Children's Books: Ancient Americas; Children's Books: Cultural Diversity; Children's Books: Advanced Readers; Children's Books: Picture Books;
Terms of Sale
pacaritambo books
If you should ever be unhappy with a book you order from us (Heaven forbid!), you may return the book within 15 days of receipt. If the error is ours, we will refund your original shipping charge and pay the return shipping as well. If the error is yours, we will keep actual postage. Any questions or problems, just email us and we'll work it out together. A word about international shipping: if I can prove that I mailed the book to you (and I will be able to), I cannot be responsible for the postal problems of another country. Sorry about that.
About the Seller
pacaritambo books
About pacaritambo books
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- G
- Good describes the average used and worn book that has all pages or leaves present. Any defects must be noted. (as defined by AB...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...