Samira and the Skeletons

by Camilla Kuhn

Overview

Samira likes school, especially when she gets to sit next to her best friend, Frida. But when they learn about the skeletal system in science class, Samira suddenly begins to imagine everyone in school as a walking skeleton. Soon she starts avoiding her fellow classmates, even Frida, but Samira still can't escape her own skeleton. With some clever help from her mother, though, Samira realizes that maybe having a body full of bones isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Enhanced by delightfully impish illustrations, Camilla Kuhn's playful book depicts the hilarious results of an imagination gone awry. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467467469
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	03/01/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	34
File size:	9 MB
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Camilla Kuhn is a Norwegian author and illustrator of children's books. She has a degree in graphic design from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London and currently lives in Oslo with her husband, two children, two dogs, a cat, two guinea pigs, a tortoise, some fish, and seven walking stick insects. Visit her website at www.camillakuhn.no.

Editorial Reviews

01/04/2016
Childhood is full of discoveries about the world that can be revelatory, horrifying, or a bit of both. Learning that people have skeletons under their skin is one such discovery, at least for a girl named Samira. Norwegian author-artist Kuhn isn’t shy about digging into Samira’s horror—as this knowledge takes hold, Samira starts seeing everyone around her as walking, talking skeletons. “Just look at your lovely teeth! That’s your skeleton peeping out of your mouth,” says Samira’s teacher, making things worse. Unnerved, Samira avoids her best friend and resists hugging her mother after school. When Samira decides she’s better off sans skeleton, Mom obligingly sets up a mock skeleton-removal operation, wielding a plunger and scissors (after all, says Mom, snails, worms, and jellyfish “manage just fine” without skeletons). Fortunately, Samira realizes skeletons are good for dancing and jumping rope; unfortunately, muscles are the next day’s lesson. “They are the same as meat,” explains Samira’s ever-helpful teacher. “Exactly like a steak.” Tenderhearted kids may be freaked out by the book’s moderately disturbing images, but scientifically curious ones (and those with a mischievous streak) should appreciate Kuhn’s directness. Ages 5–8. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Booklist (starred review)
"This Norwegian import is icky and unsettling even while being a guffaw-inducing exploration of the human body, complete with comically exaggerated anatomical drawings of what lurks beneath our skin. Beyond the guaranteed giggles, Kuhn adds a subtle teaching moment: by presenting Samira with dark skin and her best friend with lighter skin, and then showing both of their skeletons (and later, somewhat horrifyingly, muscles), Kuhn highlights how much we are the same underneath."

Publishers Weekly
"Tenderhearted kids may be freaked out by the book's moderately disturbing images, but scientifically curious ones (and those with a mischievous streak) should appreciate Kuhn's directness."

From the Publisher

03/01/2016
PreS-Gr 2—When Samira learns that everyone has a skeleton under their skin, she becomes unhappy. She starts seeing the people around her as bony monstrosities and avoids them all, even her best friend. Samira's mom offers to remove the skeleton so that she can crawl around on the ground like a snail. But just as Mom is about to make the first cut, Samira decides she likes having a skeleton after all. The next day, similar troubles arise when her teacher starts a lesson on muscles. Although the author makes it clear that we all have skeletons, she doesn't explain why. Adults may want to shed some light on the topic for kids, but children reading this title on their own may not understand. Giant-headed, slightly disconcerting illustrations of skeletons reflect Samira's anxiety. VERDICT This story unfortunately misses the opportunity to share more about the skeletal system in favor of focusing on the creep factor. Pass on this one.—Laura Stanfield, Campbell County Public Library, Fort Thomas, KY

School Library Journal

2016-01-09
When Samira learns that everyone has a skeleton, she can't stop picturing friends and family as walking jumbles of bones. Normally Samira loves school. But when her teacher begins talking about skeletons—even worse, says that Samira has one inside of her—Samira gets spooked. As Samira slowly begins to comprehend her teacher's lesson, Kuhn deftly lightens Samira's dark brown skin until readers are able to see her bones—along with the bones of everyone else around her. Suddenly, Samira is surrounded by skeletons. Even her best friend, Frida, is one! Luckily, Samira's mom has a cunning solution. If skeletons scare Samira so much, why not just take hers out? (Her operating tools of choice are scissors, a cheese grater, a rolling pin, and a plunger.) With imagined worms, jellyfish, and other invertebrates slithering around, neither Samira nor her skeleton will stand for that! Samira quickly finds Frida, and they run around the playground, in full acceptance of their not-so-spooky insides. That is, until they learn about…muscles. Kuhn's light-lined, childlike style is a neat match for the ever-so-slightly ghoulish proceedings, her bigheaded children easily morphing into big-skulled skeletons. This Norwegian import may not be best for very squeamish readers, but it is an inclusive and inventive gateway to begin lessons on the body. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews