SAMIRA AND THE SKELETONS

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.