Reading the Bones

Peggy Henderson Adventure #1

by Gina McMurchy-Barber

Short-listed for the 2009 Silver Birch Award, commended for the 2009 Best Books for Kids Teens


Due to circumstances beyond her control, 12-year-old Peggy Henderson has to move to the quiet town of Crescent Beach, British Columbia, to live with her aunt and uncle. Without a father and separated from her mother, who’s looking for work, Peggy feels her unhappiness increasing until the day she and her uncle start digging a pond in the backyard and she realizes the rock she’s been trying to pry from the ground is really a human skull.


Peggy eventually learns that her home and the entire seaside town were built on top of a 5000-year-old Coast Salish fishing village. With the help of an elderly archaeologist, a woman named Eddy, Peggy comes to know the ancient storyteller buried in her yard in a way that few others can – by reading the bones.


As life with her aunt becomes more and more unbearable, Peggy looks to the old Salish man from the past for help and answers.

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Canada, Archaeology, Historical Fiction, Fiction

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Gina McMurchy-Barber is an award winning Canadian author. Her books are favourites with teachers and librarians looking for stories that will touch the heart. Her latest book, The Jigsaw Puzzle King, was the winner of the 2021 Silver Birch Award and is nominated for three more awards in 2022. It's the story of 11 year old Warren coming to terms with how society judges his brother who has Down syndrome. Anyone with a family member with any kind of exceptionality will relate.

Gina's archaeology adventure series brings history to life. Themes include First Nations, building the railroad, fur trade, Vikings and more.

Gina's other passions in life include animals (she was a research assistant in Borneo with Birute Galdikas, studying orangutans), archaeology (she earned her degree from Simon Fraser University), writing (she is working on her eighth book for kids), and teaching (she has been a classroom teacher for over twenty years, and writes plays and stories that inspire her students.)

Gina started writing while studying archaeology at university. This led her to study journalism and become a freelance writer. After the birth of her two sons she discovered the amazing world of children's books.

In 2004 Gina received the Governor General's Award for Teaching Excellence in Canadian History. Since then she has been nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award, the Canadian Library Association Book Award, BC Book Prize, Saskatchewan's Willow Awards, the Silver Birch Awards, Hackmatack and various other book awards.

Gina's books incorporate her love of history, archaeology, children and animals. She continues to teach and visit schools to talk about her work.

Reviews

[eleanor :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is about the amazing novel called, Reading The Bones! A twelve year-old girl named Peggy moved to the quiet town of Crescent Beach with her Aunt Margaret and Uncle Stuart while her mom finds a job. Uncle Stuart and Peggy were digging a pond in the backyard and Peggy spots something… or is it someone? She finds a human skull! Peggy is scared but a little excited because she gets to work with a special paleontologist named Eddy. Everyday Peggy and Eddy would
go to the backyard and investigate the body and find new stuff.
Here’s a little bit of the story. Peggy and her Aunt Margaret argue a lot and Aunt Margaret is super bossy to Peggy. So Peggy now has to go to Sailing Lessons and miss out on a little bit of the investigation with Eddy, which makes her a little sad. Mrs. Hobbes and Mr. Grimbal are other characters in this book like Mrs. Hobbes is an elderly friend of Peggy’s. Mr. Grimbal sells artifacts and rocks and stuff like that so he’s very interested when he sees all this. Peggy misses her mom so she finds a pendant rock with a little face on it and she goes to Mr. Grimbal’s Store and asks him how much it would be. He says it would be about three hundred dollars but she charges him three thousand and he disagrees so she leaves. Mr. Grimbal watches as she goes then gives her three thousand dollars later in the day. But then, Peggy betrays Aunt Margaret and Eddy when she sells it so she doesn’t tell them and she feels really bad about it. Why did she get the money anyway? Well, she got it so she could go back to see her mom. Also when she sees the bones, the story goes to a flashback when that person that’s dead in her yard was alive. His name was Shuksi’em. Peggy is reading the bones!!! Peggy changes at the end and is happy with her special pond and Aunt Margaret and Uncle Stuart.
Here’s a little bit about Peggy herself. Peggy is twelve years old and is more like a tomboy than a girly-girl. She wears jerseys and dirty clothes from her floor. She likes to collect shells with Mrs. Hobbes and is making her shells into a beautiful necklace for her mom. She likes sweet things like her aunt’s carrot cake. She loves doing the excavation with Eddy.
Here’s a little bit about the setting. It takes place in the present day in the little town of Crescent Beach. This is a fictional story but the places are real! I’ve been to Blackie’s Spit and that’s where Peggy took sailing lessons. Her Aunt and Uncle’s house was small and like a cottage. The flashbacks also took place at Crescent Beach a long time ago when the Coast Salish came there in the summer.
I did really enjoy this book because Anneliese (my sister) and I were so interested in the Coast Salish and how they lived and what they wore back then. This story told us about the Coast Salish and it was really cool to listen to. I would say 5+ could read it. For 4 years olds, it can get sad and it is sad but it has a happy ending so that’s good. I liked when Peggy went to sailing lessons and her teacher’s name was Tornado. I did not like it when she was sad that her mother was gone. That is no fun at all. I didn’t write the whole story because then I would’ve spoiled it all and I don’t want to do that. Reading The Bones is such a good book. So that was a little bit of the story and I hope you enjoyed my essay! And if the author wrote another book I’d want to read it. The End!
BY: ELEANOR

[Anneliese · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Spoilers!)

Reading the Bones is a fascinating story of a twelve-year-old girl named Peggy. Peggy had to be separated from her mom and sent to Crescent Beach. There, Peggy lived with aunt Margaret and her uncle Stuart. Uncle Stuart was digging a pond in his backyard and Peggy found a skull in the pond! Mrs. Hobbes and Mr. Grimbal are two other fictional characters in this book that live in Crescent Beach.

Peggy had to live with her aunt and uncle so that her mom can find a job. Peggy found a skull in her aunt and uncle’s backyard pond they were digging. And she started a digging project with an archaeologist and found a beautiful stone that she sold to Mr. Grimbal. Mr. Grimbal sold native artifacts and gave Peggy three thousand bucks for the stone. Peggy was going to call her mom that night and say she won lots of money in a contest but would she really do that? In the end of this book, Peggy gets the stone back and her mom finds a job in Crescent Beach.

I liked this book a lot because it ended perfectly and when I was bored it would spring up in my mind and my mom would read it out loud to my sister and I. If I had to rate this book it would be five out of five. And I would recommend this book to ages seven and up.

[Clara:) Dueck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading the bones. By Gina McMurchy-Barber. This story occurs at Crescent Beach. This story was written in first person.

Peggy a 12 year old girl was sent to Crescent Beach because her mom was going to Toronto to find a job. Her Aunt and Uncle were going to take care of her. Aunt Margaret was a little on the bossy side but she did take care of Peggy. One day Peggy and Uncle Stuart were digging a hole for a pond in their backyard but Peggy noticed that there was a yellowish white stone in the hole. She told Uncle Stuart that she thought it might be a skull and he mocked her but he came close to look at it anyway. It really was a skull! The rest of the story is about the skull and the ancient burial. Eventually a woman named Eddie came to examine it and invited Peggy to help! That’s what they did every day! Peggy gets signed up for sailing class and meets Thorbert a kid who babysits Chester the dog when miss Hobbs goes to the hospital:( miss Hobbs love to collect shells with Peggy. Peggy visits miss Hobbs in hospital and comes back the next day but miss Hobbs is gone. They ask the nurse what happened and she died. Peggy gets a call from her mom saying she’s coming back to Vancouver and that they would live in crescent beach!! The end.



I really liked this book and I would want to recommend it to anyone who is interested in artifacts and such. I loved it and read it for homeschooling.

[Honor #literallyslayqueen ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

We read this book to learn more about ancient stuff about crescent beach. At the beginning of the book Peggy a 12 year old girl, lives in crescent beach with her aunt and her uncle. Peggy’s mother lives in Toronto cause she can’t find work. Peggy loves to collect shells with mrs Hobbs and Peggy finds a skull in her aunt and uncle’s backyard! Eddy a archaeologist comes to examine the skull and bones Peggy helps too.
In the middle of the book aunt Margaret thinks Peggy has too much free time so she signed Peggy up for boating lessons. Peggy does not like the way aunt Margaret is acting, she doesn’t get enough time to make the shell necklace with mrs Hobbs for her mom.
At the end of the book mrs Hobbs is in the hospital, Peggy finds something in the burial and sells it to mr Grimbal, and does not want to see Eddy again. But she finally figured it out aunt Margaret said it was her fault they told Eddy and it was okay. Before this mrs Hobbs died! Peggy was miserable 😩.
After Peggy’s mom calls and says she is coming home! I would love to recommend this to anyone who loves bones and stuff



By Honor DUECK

[Capn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't like giving low ratings. But I've been reading a lot of middle grade books recently (second half of the August MG Reading Challenge), and this one just seems so weak by comparison. (I forgot to check first if anyone had done a full review already, so I'll give it a shot in case it's needed).

Peggy has been dumped at her childless Aunt and Uncle Randall's place in Crescent Beach (South Surrey, British Columbia, Canada). Her widowed mother has recently lost her job, and in desperation has gone all the way to Toronto to seek work (for reference, Ontario is about a week away by car, or 5 hours by flight. I think she must have had a very specific career in advertising to have to go all the way cross-country to find work?!). Peggy's father died some time ago, and they're cash-strapped, so Aunt Margaret and Uncle Stuart, who have recently moved to Crescent Beach, agreed to take her in for the time being.

Peggy is a bit rough around the edges (lit. and fig.), and is a grubby, wayward 12 year old girl (I would hesitate to say 'headstrong', because I didn't feel that Peggy was especially bright or adventurous or lively, even if I was meant to draw those conclusions). When NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) Aunt Margaret is put out by the discovery of an ancient native burial (a Coast Salish man) in her garden when she was wanting to put in a koi pond, Peggy clashes with her strict and controlling Aunt by not finding the discovery "creepy" or a nuisance, preferring to spend time helping the friendly archaeologist Dr. "Eddy" McKay excavate the pit, or talking to cookie-baking, shell-collecting kindly elderly neighbour Mrs. Hobbs (who is, coincidentally, also a childhood friend of McKay's). Tensions, perhaps also jealousy, build between rigid and domineering Aunt Margaret (who doesn't seem to have a clue about relating to children.. or other adults very effectively or politely, either), which drives much of the plot's conflict. Grave robbing, black market antiquities dealers provide the rest of the necessary antagonism.

There's much that is unappealing about this story. First of all, the Coast Salish man is a grizzled, arthritic old elder. Flashbacks to his life (there are many) are primarily when he is feeble and frustrated by his frailty, and not at the exciting height of his warrior days. It so easily could have been flashbacks from highlights taken from throughout his long lifespan, but instead it was focused almost exclusively on his final year of life, where he spends much of his time sitting and is forced to partake in the women's work of the clan. It makes an awkward contrast to 12 year old moody Peggy and her uptight, opinionated and genuinely unlikeable Aunt (Uncle Stuart is the permissive, winking foil, who hardly plays a role at all).

Then there's Peggy's character. (I don't like to be critical, and I apologise to the author if she reads this), however: Peggy's character seems to have been written BY the out-of-touch, cannot-relate, childless Aunt. :S She just doesn't ring particularly true to me. Her stereotypical habits are there (messy room, moodiness, etc.), but the character development was weak, and her motivations just seemed... off. None of the characters were especially good, though the youngest were by far the worse (the forgetful, or was he just meant to be stupid but good-looking (I guess?) sailing instructor; the two teenage girls who pine for his attention; and Thorbert, who... well, why was he there?!).

The author (McMurchy-Barber) presumably completed her undergraduate studies in the field of archaeology (or did it as an elective, as she became a teacher), and the author's note mentions a three-month research project based upon a dig she did at Crescent Beach on an elderly Coast Salish man's skeleton. She mentions how she felt she got to know the bones as the person they belonged to, and how she came to respect and understand the man behind them. All good, and I get how this seems like a good basis for a story. It was, sort of - unfortunately, there was no art to the story-telling, and I just found I couldn't care for any of the characters. That there was personal growth and mutual respect between mismatched aunt and niece at the end was... well, I can't even say satisfying. I just didn't much care.

There were clunky bits, too - the sailing lessons, the students, the teachers. First of all, why would a beginner's sailing class teach mooring? They're dinghies - you launch them from the beach, and learn to tack and gybe, sail trimming, how not to capsize, what to do when you inevitably do capsize... there were way too many issues here for me to believe the author had any sailing experience whatsoever. She could have avoided this by fleshing out "Tornado" and Melissa and Jennifer, and writing about interpersonal relationships, instead. Why she started to build a story about Thorbert and his divorcing parents (which then went nowhere), I didn't get. Also - we know lessons get cancelled on a stormy day - does she ever resume them?! She never goes back, I guess, because that's the last we had heard of it. I still don't get why this was necessary - I suspect it was just a way of showing Aunt Margaret's control over Peggy's life and free-time. It just seemed unnecessary when she was also assigned chores, which weren't well-described. It's a pity, because going along with Peggy to measure out laundry soap and separating lights from darks, etc., would have given much more time for introspection and character development.

I didn't really get the character of Mrs. Hobbs, either. I liked her, but we already had the 'wise elder female' in Eddy McKay to contrast selfish and dull Aunt Margaret. So why introduce her at all? She dies, suddenly and unexpectedly, too. I didn't get the point of this - was this meant to show that the life and death of the elderly happen in the present, too? Then why not talk of a burial for her? A memorial for her? How she will be remembered, etc.? Or was it meant to show that life was unpredictable? I have no idea.

I found that I had to routinely suspend my disbelief: that Dr. McKay would come alone, without a team of undergrads to dig, and that she'd let Peggy be that involved; the backstory and interaction (and particulary the resolution) with Grimbal, the seedy black market artifact dealer, etc.

I bought the other 3 books in this series for nostalgic reasons: I know Crescent Beach, very well. I don't know why Camp Alexandra or the long standing Crescent Beach Swim Club were left out, though I understood why she renamed The Red Baron to Skipper's Fish & Chips or something. Road names and place names were accurate, but I didn't feel that she did enough scene setting (especially if you don't know the place, or the Thousand Steps, or what era the majority of the grander old houses along O'Hara lane were built in and their architectural style, etc.). It's a really pretty, very special and well-loved little area, and while I'm pleased she wrote about it, I felt she didn't quite do it justice. If you aren't from coastal B.C., you might have little to no idea about the climate, either, or who the Coast Salish native people are (and less so, members of the local Semiahmoo band!). All of this could have been much better introduced.

I'm really hoping the other books improve. This one was one of those sorts of books where the back jacket synopsis is more interesting than the contents. I don't know if this is the author's first novel or not, but I hope so - I hope she hits her stride in the next one. I don't think she's read as many middle grade books as I have, or hadn't when she wrote this. ;) Potential is there, but this wasn't polished or especially well edited.

EDIT: I read the other reviews, and I realise I neglected to praise this for its explanations of in situ finds, and screening, worked flint, shell middens, etc. There was no mention of stratigraphy, which leads me to suspect that McMurchy-Barber didn't do much archaeology at uni: the granddaughter inserts the pouch with the amulet into the already covered midden grave as an afterthought and loving gesture - it would be ABOVE the base layer of the skeleton. Further, when it is replaced later, by McKay, there's no way she wouldn't use that opportunity to launch into a lecture on dating and stratigraphy, which is usually the first and most enthusiastically taught lesson in archaeology. ;) Also, while I'm at it - wondering if Mrs. Hobb's bones had 'transverse lines' due to childhood malnutrition at the time of the Great Depression was superfluous, when we know that McKay is her childhood friend (same age, and so why wouldn't Peggy just wonder if the post-menopausal lady across the trench was similarly afflicted?). We could have wiped out Mrs. Hobb's character altogether and replaced her with a bolstered and more roundly developed Dr. McKay. I question the choice here, though I liked Mrs. Hobbs.

What a missed opportunity with Peggy's recurrent piles of dirty laundry! Here's a scene I just wrote:
McKay: "I haven't seen that shirt before."
Peggy looks down, embarrassed. It's a stretched out Fraggle Rock t-shirt she found at the Salvation Army thrift store last year. It had been in good condition at the time, considering its retro age, but it had suffered badly during a skirmish with Peggy's first attempt at spaghetti sauce and never recovered. There was a bright orange stain right over Boober and Mokey. "Ah, yeah - it was at the bottom of the pile."
"Pile?"
"Uh, yeah, my dirty clothes. I didn't do laundry yet." she winced slightly with a pang of humiliation and guilt, knowing what Aunt Margaret was going to say about it, and embarrassed that Dr. McKay would be aware of her slobby nature. Still, Eddy didn't exactly look spic and span herself, with her grubby work clothes.
Eddy's eyes sparkled. "So... would you say that your laundry pile could tell a story?"
"A story?"
"Which shirt is your favourite?"
Peggy thought about it. "Probably the Canucks t-shirt."
"Is it at the top or bottom of the clothes heap?"
"It's on top, or at least, close to the top. Why?"
"Why is it there and not at the bottom?"
Peggy thought about it, "Well, obviously, I wore it most recently."
Dr. McKay pointed at her with a trowel as she smiled cunningly. "So if I carefully went through your laundry pile, from the top to the bottom, I'd be able to reconstruct your week's wardrobe in order, is that correct?"
Peggy stood amazed. Who'd have thought so much information could be recorded in her messy bedroom? Could this info be weaponized and deployed in her next salvo with Aunt Margaret, she cheekily wondered. But soon her brow furrowed. "No - I mean, yes, but - I wore this shirt 3 times last week. It couldn't be in three places at once. All you could say is that I wore it the most recently."
McKay beamed at her. "Excellent! What else could I learn?"
She thought of the spaghetti stain. "Diet?"
"Perhaps! What about season, time of year, climate?"
There were no sweaters, just jeans, shorts and t-shirts. Oh, and her bathing suit was probably in there, somewhere. 'Right,' thought Peggy to herself. 'She'd know it wasn't winter, and she'd have been able to guess that I had been swimming recently.'
Peggy grinned, "I never thought of my mess as being a time-capsule before."

If you like Archaeology at the level of middle grade and YA reads, please check out the books in the Archaeology in Middle Grade & YA Fiction Listopia list (and add any missing works to it, please!):
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...

If you want to see more about Archaeology, look up past episodes of Time Team (hosted by Baldrick, I mean Tony Robinson, of Black Adder fame) on YouTube.

[Sandy D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things I loved about this story about an angsty 12 y.o. spending time at her aunt & uncle's house on the coast of British Columbia:

- absolutely great descriptions of archaeology
- one of the only books for the general public (for adults or children!) that I've seen that deals with the idea of "who owns the past", pot-hunting, scientific archaeology, and the repatriation of human remains to Native peoples
- beautiful treatment of the natural environment
- complicated characters, conflict, and some good suspense

A few things I didn't like so much:

- the prehistoric passages were sometimes a bit tedious
- things seems to get wrapped up so neatly! So reasonably! I didn't want tragedy, but all the conflict seemed to end so suddenly.
- the dialog didn't seem real sometimes
- there was a little too much telling and not enough showing when it came to describing the main character's thoughts

I would love to see more from this author with the same characters. Maybe Peggy (the protagonist) could go on an archaeological field school (oooh, lots of opportunity for a YA novel there!), or volunteer at other excavations?

[K.A. Wiggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting middle-grade adventure set in Crescent Beach. A middle schooler spends the summer with relatives who uncover ancient burial remains while landscaping their yard. A surprising number of subplots deal with family relationships, death, intergenerational connections, graverobbing and exploitation of First Nations culture and artifacts, financial difficulty, friendship and more in a sensitive and relatable fashion. Good archaeological detail and an enjoyable quick read.

[Darlene Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peggy Henderson has a lot on her plate for a 12-year-old. Her father is dead and her mother has moved to Toronto to find work, leaving her with an aunt and uncle in BC. She doesn't like how her aunt treats her and misses her mom. Things change when she discovers a human skull in the backyard. Peggy learns a lot about life as she learns more about the ancient remains. This is a great book as it teaches kids about the Coast Salish people, archeology and human nature; while being entertained. I love how the past and the present merge. Peggy is a very real tween and the author has captured her feelings and emotions perfectly. I look forward to more Peggy Henderson stories.

[Neill Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Peggy’s mother has to go to Toronto to look for work, she is left to live with her mother’s sister and her husband in Crescent Beach. While they are excavating a pond in their backyard they discover a native burial site. The ensuing archaeological dig puts the local archaeologist, her aunt and uncle, and a local trader in native artifacts at odds. Interspersed with the story of Peggy’s situation and the dig is a story of the man whose body is being excavated and an explanation of the condition of the skeletal remains.

[Arthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is tricky reading. Much due to the artifacts found from a burial found in Vancouver Peggy with her help from Eddy the archaeologist traveled down the path of deep and personal enlightenment. Peggy brings the reader along the way of visualizing a life from the times of Coast Salish who may be found in parts of British Columbia, Canada.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really want to read the second book in this series. The idea was great and the portrayal of adolescence was spot on. The ending was too conveniently tidy for my taste.

[Katie lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting really enjoyed the book!^^