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The Color of Bones
Twelve year-old Derby Shrewd lives in a divided town. Lights live on the Northside of the Line, Darks live on the Southside. Hillside has been that way ever since the Line appeared naturally from the ground, much like a spring welling up from deep inside the earth.
Now the Line controls the town, keeping Hillside separated, zapping those who come near it and killing those who dare cross it.
But when Derby, a Northsider, finds a pile of bones stacked on the Line, he sets out to uncover the person's identity. While doing so, he befriends a Southside girl and soon begins to challenge the Line and the town's rules. And then, before he can turn back, Derby goes too far.
Now the Line controls the town, keeping Hillside separated, zapping those who come near it and killing those who dare cross it.
But when Derby, a Northsider, finds a pile of bones stacked on the Line, he sets out to uncover the person's identity. While doing so, he befriends a Southside girl and soon begins to challenge the Line and the town's rules. And then, before he can turn back, Derby goes too far.
172 pages, Paperback
First published May 8, 2012
16 people are currently reading
332 people want to read
About the author
Tracy Edward Wymer
5 books37 followersTracy Edward Wymer grew up in Missouri and Indiana. He is the author of The Great and Mighty Benjamin Teller, Soar, The Color of Bones, and the forthcoming Mira: A Whale's Story (4/21/25). He is also part of the anthology Been There, Done That: Writing Stories from Real Life. When not reading through stacks of books on his nightstand, he likes to bike, read, write, and root for the Kansas City Royals and the Indiana Hoosiers. A long-time educator, Tracy lives with his family in Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 7, 2012
I knew I'd love his book before I read it, and I was right. Just the blurb was enough to suck me in. The Line through the middle of town is a force to be reckoned with. Tracy Wymer does an incredible job of actually making The Line a powerful--and believable--main character. I especially love the story's prose--so wonderful. The words and the story flow like water, and the originality will keep you spellbound. Derby and Zora completely captured my heart.
It's a fast read, and one I'm sure you'll enjoy.
It's a fast read, and one I'm sure you'll enjoy.
December 21, 2011
A MUST read for all young readers!!!! Wymer "hit one out of the park" with "The Color of Bones.". Highly recommend.
May 8, 2012
On his way home from school twelve year-old Derby comes across a pile of human bones with the skull sitting on the very top. He can’t escape the feeling that he skull is watching him. He soon learns that there is no way to remove the bones; the sheriff has already tried. The bones are sitting on the line and the line won’t let anyone near them.
The line separates the north side of town from the South side of town and woe be it to anyone who tries to cross from one side to the other. Derby, son of the mayor on the north side, is a likable kid with a healthy respect for authority. He doesn’t deliberately set out to challenge the line. But when he makes the acquaintance of south-sider Zora, who has a pitching arm the likes of which Derby has never seen and a smile that “stretches across the playground and makes everything brighter”, some inner sense compels him to challenge that authority and leads him down a path with no return. Or is there?
It is a fast paced and beautifully written book. I was engrossed from the first page and didn’t put it down until the end. It is suitable for all middle grade readers.
The line separates the north side of town from the South side of town and woe be it to anyone who tries to cross from one side to the other. Derby, son of the mayor on the north side, is a likable kid with a healthy respect for authority. He doesn’t deliberately set out to challenge the line. But when he makes the acquaintance of south-sider Zora, who has a pitching arm the likes of which Derby has never seen and a smile that “stretches across the playground and makes everything brighter”, some inner sense compels him to challenge that authority and leads him down a path with no return. Or is there?
It is a fast paced and beautifully written book. I was engrossed from the first page and didn’t put it down until the end. It is suitable for all middle grade readers.
June 7, 2012
This book is a little gem. The Line is an interesting concept and I loved that it was portrayed as a living, human-like entity. Though the book was shorter than I would have liked, it was engrossing.
July 30, 2012
It may be a "children's" book, but it is not childish at all. It teaches a good lesson for all of us and I had a hard time putting it down.t
November 26, 2012
The Story-
Derby lives on the Northside of town. He has never set foot on the Southside because of “the line”. It is an actual living, breathing line that separates the town and kills anyone who steps over it. It appeared a generation ago, and no one knows anything about it. To Derby, it is just a way of life. On his way home from school one day, he is shocked to find a pile of bones with a skull on top stacked exactly on the center of the line. Who put it there and how?
He begins studying the line, testing it. He dares to do what nobody else has ever done, tempt it.
One day he sees a girl standing on the Southside, watching his exertions. His interest in her grows and soon she is all he thinks about. When Derby’s father finds out, he decides that the two sides of town should be even more separate, and he begins building a wall so that people won’t even be able to look at each other.
Derby becomes desperate, and soon he begins to think of attempting the impossible.
My Thoughts-
A really strange, but intriguing story. At first I didn’t know what to think. Life seems so normal, but for the line. What is the line? We never actually find out, but we do learn a lot about it as Derby studies it. First off, it is alive. Second, it can hear, understand and react to the people around it.
The mystery of the line is really what kept me reading. There is a subplot about an accidental murder, but I just wanted to learn more about this intriguing line. As Derby’s interest grows, I wondered why he would risk so much for so little. But of course, the moral of the story is that he dares to do and love.
The character of Derby puzzled me. At first I thought Derby was a girl. It doesn’t refer to him in any type of gender situation, so I just assumed girl. But, when the character starts falling for the girl from Southside, I began to question my decision. I finally concluded that Derby was a boy. I also didn’t catch his age at the beginning, and it wasn’t until he went to middle school that I realized his approximate age. From a reader’s standpoint, this type of puzzle is risky. It plays with everything you think you know about a character and the book reads differently.
There is a great, and the morale of the story is… at the end of the book. However, I really wanted to know what the heck the line was and how it was created. A question left hanging in the end.
So, is it worth a read? Yes. The author does a good job tying together individual story
lines that add up to an interesting full story. And there is always the mystery of the line.
Derby lives on the Northside of town. He has never set foot on the Southside because of “the line”. It is an actual living, breathing line that separates the town and kills anyone who steps over it. It appeared a generation ago, and no one knows anything about it. To Derby, it is just a way of life. On his way home from school one day, he is shocked to find a pile of bones with a skull on top stacked exactly on the center of the line. Who put it there and how?
He begins studying the line, testing it. He dares to do what nobody else has ever done, tempt it.
One day he sees a girl standing on the Southside, watching his exertions. His interest in her grows and soon she is all he thinks about. When Derby’s father finds out, he decides that the two sides of town should be even more separate, and he begins building a wall so that people won’t even be able to look at each other.
Derby becomes desperate, and soon he begins to think of attempting the impossible.
My Thoughts-
A really strange, but intriguing story. At first I didn’t know what to think. Life seems so normal, but for the line. What is the line? We never actually find out, but we do learn a lot about it as Derby studies it. First off, it is alive. Second, it can hear, understand and react to the people around it.
The mystery of the line is really what kept me reading. There is a subplot about an accidental murder, but I just wanted to learn more about this intriguing line. As Derby’s interest grows, I wondered why he would risk so much for so little. But of course, the moral of the story is that he dares to do and love.
The character of Derby puzzled me. At first I thought Derby was a girl. It doesn’t refer to him in any type of gender situation, so I just assumed girl. But, when the character starts falling for the girl from Southside, I began to question my decision. I finally concluded that Derby was a boy. I also didn’t catch his age at the beginning, and it wasn’t until he went to middle school that I realized his approximate age. From a reader’s standpoint, this type of puzzle is risky. It plays with everything you think you know about a character and the book reads differently.
There is a great, and the morale of the story is… at the end of the book. However, I really wanted to know what the heck the line was and how it was created. A question left hanging in the end.
So, is it worth a read? Yes. The author does a good job tying together individual story
lines that add up to an interesting full story. And there is always the mystery of the line.
July 13, 2012
The Color of Bones
By Tracy Edward Wymer
172 pages – ages 9-12
Published May 8th 2012 by First Pitch
The Line appeared one day, long ago. It separated the town of Hillside, creating the Northsiders (the Lights) and the Southsiders (the Darks). Anyone who crossed the Line or tried to cross the Line would die instantly or soon after trying it. Derby lived on the Northside all his life. His father was scarred by the Line once because he got too close to it. Derby was walking home one day with his friend and they saw a pile of bones on the line. It was a pyramid of human bones with a skull on the top. No one knew how the bones got there or who they used to be.
One day when Derby was throwing rocks for fun, he saw a Southside girl throwing rocks too. Even though Derby has always been told not to talk to Southsiders, the kids become friends over time. Derby’s father, the Mayor of Hillside, decides the town should build a high wall so no Northsiders can even get close to the line. Derby finds that he REALLY likes the Southside girl and can’t imagine not being able to see or talk to her (even if it’s over the Line) and if the wall is built, he’ll never be able to see her again. Derby decides it’s time to cross the Line.
This book was entertaining and a pretty quick read for me. I think the plot of the book uses the Line to teach about racism, segregation and tyranny. I think it is a really interesting plot idea. Derby was a great character and I think I “knew” him pretty well. There was a bunch of things I wished I understood better (or maybe it could have been explained better) like why didn’t the people in the town just move or where did the Line come from and what exactly it was (an alien? created by evil thoughts?). Why couldn’t people just walk under the Line when it went in the air? I think the book would be even better if some parts of it were explained a little better. The idea of the Line was cool in a monster kind of way. The Line divided everything, it even separated the school right down the middle! It was kind of cool to imagine it. I think the book may be a good one for teachers to use to talk to kids about racism.
By Tracy Edward Wymer
172 pages – ages 9-12
Published May 8th 2012 by First Pitch
The Line appeared one day, long ago. It separated the town of Hillside, creating the Northsiders (the Lights) and the Southsiders (the Darks). Anyone who crossed the Line or tried to cross the Line would die instantly or soon after trying it. Derby lived on the Northside all his life. His father was scarred by the Line once because he got too close to it. Derby was walking home one day with his friend and they saw a pile of bones on the line. It was a pyramid of human bones with a skull on the top. No one knew how the bones got there or who they used to be.
One day when Derby was throwing rocks for fun, he saw a Southside girl throwing rocks too. Even though Derby has always been told not to talk to Southsiders, the kids become friends over time. Derby’s father, the Mayor of Hillside, decides the town should build a high wall so no Northsiders can even get close to the line. Derby finds that he REALLY likes the Southside girl and can’t imagine not being able to see or talk to her (even if it’s over the Line) and if the wall is built, he’ll never be able to see her again. Derby decides it’s time to cross the Line.
This book was entertaining and a pretty quick read for me. I think the plot of the book uses the Line to teach about racism, segregation and tyranny. I think it is a really interesting plot idea. Derby was a great character and I think I “knew” him pretty well. There was a bunch of things I wished I understood better (or maybe it could have been explained better) like why didn’t the people in the town just move or where did the Line come from and what exactly it was (an alien? created by evil thoughts?). Why couldn’t people just walk under the Line when it went in the air? I think the book would be even better if some parts of it were explained a little better. The idea of the Line was cool in a monster kind of way. The Line divided everything, it even separated the school right down the middle! It was kind of cool to imagine it. I think the book may be a good one for teachers to use to talk to kids about racism.
November 17, 2012
This was an ok story and a quick read. Whenever there is a supernatural or odd element in a story, I'm always looking for the explanation or the why, which this book doesn't provide. There is a line dividing the middle of the town that has been there for generations. They now all just accept it and don't question it. I want to know more about it. When did it appear? What is it really? How did it get there? If the line only divides the town, it must end somewhere, so why can't you just go around it? I think I'm just too rational for fiction sometimes. But, for a short young adult story, it kept me interested and I liked the message at the end.
June 15, 2012
What a story! I was amazed at how the author protrays the "Line". Growing up in a small town in the south, I lived with that line. The story is so true, but is told in a way that will capture your heart from the very beginning. I challenge you to take that magical journey with Derby and Zora. You won't be disappointed. I couldn't put the book down.
June 4, 2012
Another book I got for free on my Kindle. I actually really, really loved the plot to this story. There were a lot of places it could have gone, it had the perfect edge of 'dark' to it, and it was very enjoyable. Only thing I did not like was the ending... but if you are looking for a dark story that makes you feel warm and fuzzy at the same time, I recommend this one.
January 4, 2013
This was a fun quick read. I teach middle school and try to keep tabs on the stuff the kids are reading these days. I like the overall message of the story and think that it's still some relevant that kids can relate to. I'm very intrigued about the line and thought it was an inventive character that you don't see much in books much. Great imagery too.
June 24, 2012
Interesting portrayal of segregation. I'd love to know the age this book was intended for. Without reading between the lines this story is only a 2, but when I thought about the symbolisms represented in the book I felt it definitely deserved at Least a 3
July 21, 2012
Wymer is trying to make a statement about racism here, but flat characters and a soggy middle get in the way. It was, however, less mediocre than most of the middle-grade books I've been reading lately.
January 14, 2013
This was a really good story. I thought it wouldn't be too good considering I got it for free but I really liked it. It was short but it kept me interested the whole time.
September 22, 2023
Very reminiscent of “The Giver” loved the ending but the book was very simple perfect for 3-7th grade.
October 31, 2014
This is one of the best books I have read in my life. I loved how Tracy Wymer was able to make the Line a living character in the story. While I read the book, I never really knew what was going to happen. It kept me in suspense. The book was easy to read and I was able to imagine myself living inside the story. I felt like the characters were kids I knew. I highly recommend this book to other kids. I hope that Tracy Wymer will write another book soon. 5 star rating for this book.
April 15, 2013
Thanks, Tracy, for sending me your book. It reminded me a little bit of The Giver. It felt science fictiony.
June 15, 2012
Take my rating with a grain of salt as I am way outside the intended age range of reader. I'll pass it along to my niece and update my rating with her review.
June 9, 2012
Eh. Was really good...but without a real ending. Could have gone farther and so.much more in depth. Dissappointing ending after the depth of story.
July 10, 2014
Very quick read. Sweet story but missing a lot- like an explanation for the Line.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews