The Skull book review
Award- winning picture book creator Jon Klassen created this spooky retelling of a traditional Tyrolean folktale. The book begins with immediate action as the main character, Otilla, runs away through the forest. We never find out what she is running away from but it is clear that she is determined to get as far away as possible. At first, I thought this book was quite sweet as we see Otilla making friends with a lonely skull in a big, old house that she discovers on her journey. Jon Klassen cleverly managed to include subtle moral messages of friendship and kindness throughout the book. I particularly liked that Otilla and the skull’s friendship is initially based on helping one another out: the skull is helping Otilla by allowing her to stay in his house and Otilla is helping the skull by carrying him around so he no longer has to roll. As the skull shows Otilla around his house, there is a melancholy tone to his words and you can’t help but feel sympathy for this skull who misses the life he once had.
Later on the story took a very unexpected turn and became quite a bit darker than I would have expected for a children’s book. I wasn’t sure what to think at this point and I won’t spoil the story but I will say that it involves a headless skeleton which could potentially frighten younger children. Despite this book being a children’s book it really did shock me and left me questioning Otilla’s ability to have such a sweet friendship with the skull, but also have a slightly grey area in her morality where she will do anything to protect the skull. Whilst this does build on her already brave and determined character, I think that you could definitely look at the twist in this book in many different ways and it is certainly good for raising questions. It’s even quite comical at times if you consider the almost lighthearted tone of previous pages, however I would warn you not to be surprised when this book takes a slightly stranger turn.
At the end the story returns to the same innocent, cheerful tone of before as we witness the heart-warming interactions between Otilla and the skull. The book ends with a sweet conversation between Otilla and the skull when they express their desires to live in the big old house together. It is as though the events of the night before have been completely forgotten and it leaves you feeling almost confused and mildly haunted, but happy for the pair as they walk out into the woods together rather than alone, as they both were at the beginning.
One thing that I particularly liked in this book were the simple yet vivid pictures that fill the majority of each page, really allowing you to become immersed in the story and adding to the slightly creepy atmosphere. Although this book was definitely not what I was expecting, I would still encourage you to read it because it is clever and perfectly spooky with amazing pictures and some excellent moral messages. I also think that it can be enjoyed by both children and adults alike because it has a clever way of making you think and raising questions.