SuitabookThe Skull
Jon Klassen
- Reading
- Read a short section at a time and pause after the first appearance of the skull or skeleton. Let the child inspect the illustrations, predict what may happen and decide whether to continue.
- Themes
- Kindness creating refuge: Otilla finds a lonely skull in an abandoned house; she carries him, helps with everyday tasks and becomes his friend. The story also describes her as offering comfort and companionship. Care is presented as a practical response to loneliness and fear, with Otilla portrayed as brave, thoughtful and empathetic.
- Facing the unknown: The story places Otilla in a dark forest and an apparently abandoned house, where a headless skeleton returns nightly to pursue the skull. The supernatural threat is genuinely suspenseful, yet the threatening setting also becomes a place of refuge; the narrative uses suggestion rather than explaining everything.
- Worth knowing
- Consider whether the combination of a talking skull, a pursuing headless skeleton, broken bones and a dungeon feels intriguing or unsettling. The illustrations use shadows and a mostly monochromatic palette to sustain suspense.