Bone Warriors by Bron Bahlmann
Title: Bone Warriors
Author: Bron Bahlmann
Publisher: Sweetwater Books/ Cedar Fort
Genre: Fiction
Year Published: 2009
Number of Pages: 269
Binding: Paperback
ISBN10: N/A
ISBN13: 978-1-59955-322-1
Price: $17.99
Reviewed by Karen Hamilton and children
Best friends can be as different as night and day. Derrik is the son of the Blacksmith; he is also much taller and muscular than his friend Tweaks. Tweaks is the short-sighted-always-busy inventor of the village. Looking at the two of them one might not expect such a tight friendship; however it is a strong and unfailing one.
One morning Derrik’s father tells them why the woods are dangerous and why they are always to stay out of them.
“Those who built the village a hundred fifty years ago floated downriver in boats, studying the shadowed depths between the forest tree trunks with worried eyes for any sign of wild animals. If that was all that ever lived there, they should have been glad. They cleared trees, built homes, fenced fields, and when they went into the woods after wandering livestock, they discovered sink grass….A place that looks firm and fine until a body steps on it, then they sink and drown, quick as you can whistle. My granda told me of times he went in the woods with his da for good hunting, fat birds and four-legged beasts a-plenty, and no troubles besides sink grass. But something strange happened about a hundred years ago. An able-minded villager, gone so long he was feared dead, came out addle-headed, claiming to have seen horrible creatures deep in the forest. Other villagers never came out. Strange cries rang through the trees at odd hours. Travelers were turned around, walking and walking without getting where they thought they were going. A few survived, some walked themselves to death or landed in the sink grass, which amounts to the same thing…So no one ventures into those wild woods alone anymore. Especially my son.” (p..9)
Tweaks takes Derrik to see his new invention. It is a bit out of the village, to help prevent a repeat of a previous invention gone bad.
While explaining it to Derrik, the boys see something fly over toward the village and soon there is smoke coming from the direction of home.
Both boys take off and come upon a nightmare.
The village has been destroyed and people that they have known all their lives are missing, including their families. Derrik decides to go after his family but Tweaks is hesitant. As that first night comes Derrik is at home collecting anything that might be useful on his journey. As he works he takes a moment and looks and sees the house as his mother would. He stays to clean as much as he can before leaving in the morning. Tweaks catches up with Derrik after he is already in the forest and the boys set out to save their families and to take what adventure they stumble on.
Along the way the boys are helped by the least likely individuals and creatures. Derrik and Tweaks reach deep inside themselves to face a host of nightmares as they come closer to their families. Once they arrive at the location where they are being held, the worst nightmare is waiting for them.
My children devoured the book in two days and mom got the left-overs.
This is a book that is easy to read and the storyline is easy to follow.
The vocabulary is simpler than many other fiction books for children but the author’s vivid writing style reaches out and grabs the reader.
Bron Bahlmann, the author, began writing this book at the age of eleven and had it published when he was fourteen. It will be interesting to see what he will come out with next.
