Author/illustrator Jon Klassen takes an especially dark turn in an unconventional folk tale for hardy early readers, The Skull, a morbid yet profoundly affectionate chapter book about a girl and her bony companion.
"One night, in the middle of the night, while everyone else was asleep, Otilla finally ran away." Otilla, arriving exhausted at a seemingly abandoned old home, is welcomed by its unexpected proprietor: a skull. The taciturn companions tour the home, sharing luxuries inaccessible to the skull alone, like tea and pears. At bedtime, he warns Otilla that each night "a headless skeleton" chases him. "Otilla looked closely at the skull. 'You don't want it to catch you.' 'No,' whispered the skull. 'I don't.' " Flinty Otilla dispatches the skull's tormentor, and the allies optimistically embrace the new day.
A note describes Klassen's fascinating inspiration, which came from an older retelling, and this unorthodox, five-part folktale tips heavily into Grimm sentiments. The tenebrous, digitally finished graphite-and-ink palette leans toward his work in The Dark (2013), while the unnerving plot evokes Klassen's calamitous The Rock from the Sky (2021). Dim castle interiors and snow-dappled scenes produce an atmospheric, chilly setting. The gripping art melds brilliantly with emotionally hefty text to strike an overwhelmingly eerie and foreboding tone, which plays in exquisite contrast to the blooming solidarity between Otilla and the skull. While the skeleton's assault could be nightmare fuel for the wrong reader, the title and cover offer fair warning; this dark book isn't for the faint of heart.
Make no bones about it, this is a wholly distinctive and delightfully unsettling creation. --Kit Ballenger, youth librarian, Help Your Shelf