Girl befriends talking skull in gently spooky folktale.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 6+?
Any Positive Content?
Violence & Scariness
a little
The talking skull is polite, friendly, and not scary. A headless skeleton chases the skull and yells, "GIVE ME THAT SKULL. I WANT THAT SKULL." Someone pushes the skeleton off the roof of the house, and it's seen falling. A girl is shown about to smash bones on a rock, and she throws the pieces into a campfire in the forest at night. Mention and pictures of a dungeon with a bottomless pit. The only thing that gets thrown in the pit are a pear core and, later, a bucket filled with the ashes of the burned bones.
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Implied message that kindness and the simplest actions -- like making tea for someone or sharing a piece of fruit -- can give comfort and create a bond of friendship. Sometimes you can find peace, refuge, and companionship in places that seem scary at first.
Positive Role Models
a lot
Otilla is brave, kind, and rids the skull of his nightly tormentor. She models courage, communication, and empathy. She's polite, thoughtful, and gives the skull comfort and companionship.
Educational Value
a little
Offers the opportunity to discuss the appeal of folktales, why they endure through the ages, and how they're similar to but different from fairy tales. In an author's note, Jon Klassen explains how he created this story from a folktale he remembered and changed a bit to make his own version. He notes, "Folktales … are supposed to be changed by who is telling them, and you never find them the same way twice."
Diverse Representations
very little
Otilla's ethnicity is ambiguous, and race isn't a focus of the book, but she appears to have tan skin. The other two characters have no skin at all.
Parents need to know that The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale, by author/illustrator Jon Klassen, is a mildly spooky story with very short chapters and large type. It takes a classic premise -- an innocent girl shows up at what looks like an abandoned house on a dark night, and weird, supernatural things happen -- and turns it into a sweet friendship story. The unlikely friends are the girl and a talking skull, who's polite and friendly, rather than scary. But there is a bit of scary stuff, including a headless skeleton who chases them. Someone pushes the skeleton off the roof of the house, and it's seen falling. There's description of the girl finding the skeleton's broken bones, smashing them to bits with a rolling pin (no smashing is shown in the illustration), and throwing the pieces into a campfire. The house has a dungeon with a bottomless pit, but no one falls into it.
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What's the Story?
THE SKULL begins with a young girl named Otilla running away through the woods in the snow at night. When she sees in a clearing "a very big, very old house," she knocks on the door and then hears "Hello" coming from a skull in a window above the door. He tells her, "I will come down and let you in, but only if you promise to carry me once I do. I am just a skull, and rolling around is difficult for me." She agrees, and then he shows her around the rooms of the big house, and they become unlikely friends. He eventually shares a secret -- that a headless skeleton comes to chase him every night. Will Otilla help him defeat the skeleton?
This quirky, haunting folktale stresses kindness and empathy over spooks and scares, while still creating a gently eerie atmosphere. The Skull has author/illustrator Jon Klassen's trademark deadpan humor and visual style, as his characters face an unusual problem to solve. The kind, unflappable main character, Otilla, has things well in hand -- including her host's skull. Klassen's moody graphite-and-ink artwork mixes spooky menace with the warmth and sweetness of a cup of tea, and shafts of warm light (from fires and morning daylight) contrast with the dark greens and blacks of nighttime. This is a truly original vision.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the horror elements in The Skull. Did you find the skull scary, even though it's nice? What's scary about the headless skeleton? What's fun about reading a story that has some scares in it?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
suggesting a diversity update.
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Regan McMahon
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
