Summary: "Trapped in a dark forest with his cold-hearted parents, Bonebag leads a cruel and isolated existence. However, he feels deep in his bones that things weren't always this way: he has known happiness before. Why does it feel like it was in a past life? When Bonebag discovers a locket that burns him to the touch, and a ghostly girl beckons him into the deep woods, he must grapple with the riddle of where he came from and how he came to be. Only then can he begin to rewrite his fate."-- Provided by publisher.
In this riveting middle-grade fantasy, New York Times bestselling author David Elliott and E.M. Elliott tell the story of a forest-dwelling boy forced to confront the mysteries of his life.
Trapped in a dark forest with his cold-hearted parents, Bonebag leads a cruel and isolated existence. However, he feels deep in his bones that things weren't always this way: he has known happiness before. Why does it feel like it was in a past life?
When Bonebag discovers a locket that burns him to the touch, and a ghostly girl beckons him into the deep woods, he must grapple with the riddle of where he came from and how he came to be. Only then can he begin to rewrite his fate.
From New York Times bestselling author David Elliott and his son, E.M. Elliott, this powerful middle-grade fantasy will take readers on a quest that tackles the mystery of belonging with high-octane twists and turns along the way.
"Trapped in a dark forest with his cold-hearted parents, Bonebag leads a cruel and isolated existence. However, he feels deep in his bones that things weren't always this way: he has known happiness before. Why does it feel like it was in a past life? When Bonebag discovers a locket that burns him to the touch, and a ghostly girl beckons him into the deep woods, he must grapple with the riddle of where he came from and how he came to be. Only then can he begin to rewrite his fate."-- Provided by publisher.
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Booklist Review
For the boy, life in the tangled woods known as the Scura min Scurse affords few pleasures. His time is spent doing chores for Modor and Faeder, a stern pair, quick to mete out punishments. But beneath his mattress are his Tatters, scraps of paper containing fragments of wonderful stories that convince Bonebag, for that is the boy's name, that a better way of life exists beyond the Scura min Scurse. The opportunity to find out comes after a horrifying development forces Bonebag to flee for his life with the help of a kind ghost girl. The world Bonebag stumbles into is reminiscent of Dickensian London, starkly divided into haves and have-nots, where a pickpocket named Toby Lightfingers takes Bonebag under his wing. All orphans, the pickpocket gang makes its home in an abandoned subway tunnel, safe from the clutches of the police-like yellowjaks. As Bonebag learns the ropes, he never loses sight of his objective to find his real parents--not the cruel substitutes that raised him. David Elliott (Bull, 2017) and his son E. M. Elliott combine their talents to tell a dark, immersive tale that never loses its sense of hope. Friendship and family emerge as themes as plot threads come together in surprising ways, but the visceral descriptions, entertaining pickpocket parlance, and original folklore are what make the story unforgettable.
Kirkus Book Review
A dark fantasy about uncovering long-buried secrets and finding where you belong, co-authored by the acclaimed author David Elliott and his debut novelist son. Bonebag has grown up in theScura min Scurse, a gloomy, threatening forest, with his strangely cold parents, Modor and Faeder. His is a life of isolation, deprivation, and a profound lack of love. And yet, Bonebag seems to know what it means to be happy--how can that be? One day, he finds a golden locket in the grass, and with that discovery, everything changes. It leads to his meeting the ghostly Madalena, who informs him that Modor and Faeder aren't his parents but rather ancient monsters who will devour him, as they've devoured countless children before. With Madalena's help, he narrowly escapes, bursting out into the Great City, a world he never knew existed, determined to find his real parents. Bonebag quickly learns that the world is divided into wealthy Fops and the orphaned Rags they exploit. He stumbles headlong into two transformative friendships and races to outrun the curse that follows him from the life he escaped. But every path seems to lead back to theScura. Genuinely scary, deliciously dark, and full of unexpected turns, this work about standing up for what you know is right, even when the stakes couldn't be higher, impresses and delights with its rich worldbuilding and invigoratingly inventive language. Characters largely present white. Darkly thrilling; will keep readers turning pages until every riddle has been solved.(Fantasy. 10-14) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
TextPublisher: New York : Astra Young Readers, an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers, [2026]Copyright date: ©2026Edition: First editionDescription: 288 pages ; 22 cmContent type: