Finger Bones

by Sara Stinson

Finger Bones has been sending ghosts to their next destination for many years. Now it's Wendy's turn. The Bridgeville Clipper announces Finger Bones is dead at 122-years of age. Wendy is not upset. He will be back. Finger Bones and Wendy have unfinished business in this small town. When ten-year-old Wendy Dee Winkelmann needs to do some serious thinking she likes to chew bubblegum. While sitting on a bench in town reading, she becomes friends with an old man the townspeople call, Finger Bones. Some locals consider him odd and spread rumors about the ghastly man who lives up a dirt road in an old ramshackle cabin. Yet Wendy knows different, and soon she discovers this old man, who walks to town with a burlap bag tied to a stick, has a special job. He sends ghosts to their next destination, and the stick and burlap bag he carries are magical. Now Wendy chases the lingering spirits, and her two best friends, Claire and Henry, are determined to help her through thick and thin. Soon she finds herself caught up in a devious plan of a dark sinister power, and if it means hurting someone, or worse, it will do whatever is necessary to succeed. It’s all up to Wendy to save Bridgeville before the evil power takes over the town.

278 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 2012

Reviews

[Susan Finlay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a rough draft of the second book in Sara Stinson’s Finger Bones series recently and loved it. After that, I wanted to know how it all started, so I read the first book. It’s a wonderful children’s book set in the small town of Bridgeville, where three ten-year-old best friends get to solve a bit of mystery and save their town from evil. There’s plenty of magic, ghosts, and maybe even a witch or two.

The main character, Wendy Winkelmann, is the ten-year-daughter of the town’s police captain. She’s a happy, normal child with a good mind and good manners. She helps out at the library and she is friends with the librarian, Mrs. Taylor, and her sister, Mrs. Harper. She’s also friends with the oldest man in town, a man the locals call Finger Bones because of his gnarled hands. He is 122-years-old, and most people think he’s strange, that he’s responsible for the weird things that happen in Bridgeville, and that he may even be dangerous. But Finger Bones is really a protector and he’s been helping his town for a hundred years. With his time almost up, he meets with Wendy to tell her she’s been chosen to carry on his duties.

Wendy enlists the help of her best friends, Henry and Claire, and together they face ghosts and danger, and although they are afraid at times, they never give up. You and the children in your lives will cheer them on. It’s a great story for middle-grade readers to read on their own, or for younger readers to enjoy having you read to them.

I’m looking forward to reading the finished second book in the series. I hear it’s coming out next year!