Reading Group Guide

Little Bones

By Sandy Bigna

About the Book

Grieving after the loss of her younger brother, eleven-year-old Bones finds solace collecting animal bones. When the skeleton of a bird magically comes alive, she has to confront her fear and grief, eventually learning how to live with her loss and move on without forgetting her brother. Sandy Bigna’s Little Bones is a novel in verse that explores the theme of grief and the way that memories can either haunt us or help us heal.

Discussion Questions

1. Little Bones is divided into three sections: Exoskeleton, Hydrostatic Skeleton, and Endoskeleton. Define each of these terms in your own words (Note: the definitions are listed next to the name of each section in the book). How does the content reflect the name of each section?

2. How did Bones get her nickname? Why does she like the name?

3. Bones compares her brother to the Greek character of Icarus. Research the myth of Icarus and Daedalus. What do Nico and Icarus have in common?

4. What details in the text reveal that Edie and Aiko come from families with more money than Bones’s and Tenny’s families have? What does Bones like about her neighborhood?

5. Why did Bones’s mother leave Bones with her grandmother, Nonna Frankie? What does Bones eventually realize about why her mother needed to go away for a little bit.

6. What caused Bones’s friendship with Aiko to change? Who do you relate to the most in the situation, Aiko, Edie, or Bones? Have you ever grown apart from a friend? How did it make you feel? How is Bones’s new friendship with Tenny different from her old friendship?

7. Bones’s mom says their neighbor Raze “‘looks like someone / you wouldn’t want to meet / in a dark alley’” even as Bones thinks, “he’s the type of person / who wouldn’t step on a spider / in his own home.” (p. 33) What lesson does Little Bones have about judging people based on how they look?

8. Throughout the book, Bones hears her brother’s voice. Do you think Nico is actually speaking to her, or is this voice just in her mind? Explain your answer.

9. The author does not reveal how Nico died until the end of the book but uses foreshadowing to leave clues throughout the story. Find examples of foreshadowing and explain what they suggest about Nico’s accident.

10. What is the difference between a wish and a curse? Why do you think Bird says that Bones’s wish to bring him to life was a curse? (pp. 55–57)

11. Describe Bones’s friendship with Tenny. What characteristics make Tenny a good friend? What do Tenny and Bones have in common?

12. Why is Bones initially hesitant about completing the spell to reverse the Resurrection Curse? How does Tenny respond when she explains her fear to them?

13. When Bones has second thoughts about reversing the curse, she and Tenny argue (pp. 187–190). Summarize each person’s argument. Who do you agree with, Bones or Tenny? Explain your answer.

14. Bones says, “The inside of us / is way more beautiful / than the outside.” (p. 175) Do you agree with her? Explain your answer.

15. Throughout the book, Bones describes feeling like a feathered thing is beating inside her chest. After she reverses the curse, she says, “that dark feathery thing that beat and battered and / strained for so long / to be released / rushes out of me.” (p. 214) What do you think this “dark feathery thing” is or represents? Why do you think it finally goes away?

16. What did this book teach you about grief? How will it change the way you respond to someone who is grieving?

Extension Activities

1. Bones learns about animals by observing them. For example, she notices that ants are “intent, / industrious. / They each have a purpose.” (p. 4) Spend time observing an animal or insect, documenting your observations with notes and drawings. What did you notice that surprised you? What did you learn about the creature you observed?

2. Bones details her collection of dead things on pages 18–19. Do you have any collections, and if so, what do they contain? Create a celebration of collections by curating (selecting) examples from your collection and bringing them in to share with your classmates. Create a display for your collection, including a description of each item.

3. Research a career that involves examining bones (paleontologist, archaeologist, osteologist, orthopedist, zooarchaeologist, bioarchaeologist, etc.), and write a report about that career. What type of education is needed? Where do they work? What kind of jobs are available? What problems or questions do they help solve?

4. Choose an animal and research its behavior and biology. Create a model or drawing of the skeleton (for example, cut out the bones using white construction paper, and glue them to a dark piece of paper). What did studying and assembling the skeleton teach you about the animal? (Note: Since the author is Australian, you may want to select an animal from Australia to research!)

5. When Edie is mean to Tenny and Bones, Bones notices that “Aiko’s eyes meet mine / for just one second, / but it’s enough to see a flash / of an apology.” (p 120) Think about a time when you felt pressured to go along with something that you did not want to do, and write a narrative reflection about your experience. What did you end up doing? What did you learn or realize afterward? What advice would you give someone faced with a similar situation?

6. Little Bones is an example of a fiction genre called magical realism. In this genre, magical elements are incorporated into an otherwise realistic story and are accepted by characters as being a normal part of reality. In these stories, the magical elements are used to explore a theme. Analyze how the author uses the magical presence of Bird to explore the theme of grief. To do this, think about how Bird is connected to Nico and how he helps Bones process her brother’s death.

7. When Bones discovers Nico’s secret hiding place, she finds it contains five things: “a printed map of constellations / a drawn diagram of a rocket ship / handwritten notes about space launch systems / pencil-sketches of space-suit designs” and “The Encyclopedia of Moon Magic.” (p. 141) What do these items reveal about who Nico was? If you were to choose five things that you own that would represent who you are and what you care about, what would you choose? Write a reflective essay describing each item that you would choose and explain what it reveals about you.

8. Bones describes her brother Nico this way: “bird-charmer star-gazer tree-climber / lover of / planes and planets / clouds and constellations / rockets and rainbows.” (p. 237) Interview a classmate about their hobbies, interests, and the things that they love and then write a poem about them.

9. At the end of the book, Bones observes: “Everything comes and goes / but along the way there is magic and / you have to hold on to the brightness of those memories. / It’s these memories that can create / light / in the dark.” (p. 219) Think of a memory that creates light in the dark for you, and write a narrative essay that describes that memory using descriptive language and specific details.

Additional Poetry Prompts

1. Bones compares herself to “shadows and dirt and autumn leaves.” (p. 5) Write a poem comparing yourself to things in the natural world.

2. On pages 19–20 Bones lists synonyms for weirdo. Synonyms are words with a similar definition, but many words also have a connotative meaning, which are all the thoughts, ideas, and feelings associated with a word. Explain the connotative meanings of weirdo and Bones’s synonyms for the word. Write a poem that gives a list of synonyms for a word, and define each of the synonyms by writing the thoughts, ideas, and feelings you associate with each word.

3. One of the tools that a poet uses is syntax, which means the way that words are arranged. The poem “Not Alone” on page 44 uses punctuation (ellipses, em dashes, commas, periods, and a colon) to help create a meaning or effect. Write a poem that uses word order and different types of punctuation to help create a meaning or effect.

4. An acrostic poem is one where the first letter of each line spells out a word or phrase. Bones writes acrostic poems on pages 75, 167, and 230. Write an acrostic poem using the title of the book or the title of one of the chapter poems.

5. On page 92, the author writes: “Night slides in with its warm-scented breath, / swallowing up the shrinking sun / and gently flicking its star lights on.” These verses use figurative language in the form of personification, imagery, and alliteration. Using Sandy Bigna’s poem as a model, write your own short poem using these devices to describe a specific time of day, day of the week, or month of the year.

Note: Page numbers refer to the hardcover edition of this title.

Guide prepared by Amy Jurskis, English Department Chair at Oxbridge Academy.

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