Rating: 
Summary: young readers book club review 9-10
Review: We found the beginning moved slowly, but as it went along it got better. We were divided on what we found to be the most interesting part. Some of us loved the beginning and others liked the ending. Highlight for us include: Connor's use of the cards; the description of Morris. Favorite characters: Margaret and her bossiness and helpfulness; Nikki, because she always smiled and seemed like a nice baby. Branwell was not liked by the readers so much and his silence was frustrating to us.We would recommend this book to some, but not all of the kids in our classes.
Rating: 
Summary: A new kind of Konigsburg
Review: E.L. Konigsburg's writing has been migrating in style and subject matter; her latest work. Silent to the Bone, is ample proof of that. It's also proof that she can write anything she wants to. It is an excellent and intense book that explores family, friendship, love, and lies with Konigsburg's accustomed skill and intelligence. The main character and narrator is Connor. Branwell, Connor's best friend, has been accused of seriously injuring his baby sister Nikki, and has been unable to speak since she was hurt. Connor visits Branwell in the detention center, where he realizes that he must first learn to communicate with his friend and then learn what really happened to Nikki. Connor is a very intelligent kid, but still real and fully-fleshed. In fact, the main characters of this book - Connor, Branwell, the au pair, and Connor's sister - are all very well developed, as are the relationships between them. Although the subject is rather grim, the book itself is not. The primary focus is actually Connor's detective work, the ways in which he goes about discovering what happened both in Branwell's house and in Branwell's head. The plot is gripping and believeable, and the truths - about Branwell's sister, but many others as well - unfold naturally, without calling attention to themselves. Although Konigsburg rarely makes blatent statements about emotions or complex relationships - people mostly don't, after all - she makes everything clear to the reader. The family relationships, for example, are for the most part background, but so perfectly drawn that they are easy to see and understand. Although it's very different from her early works, like From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Silent to the Bone is every bit as good. It's certainly better than The View from Saturday, which was a Newbery book. I would suggest that it is more of a YA book, for a slightly older audience than the age range suggests. A nine-year-old could read and enjoy this, but he'd have to be a fairly mature one. SIAS: Average boy uses wits, compassion, and help from sister to uncover the truth, protect the helpless, and save the day. (Ands: 2, cliches: 3, ranking: ?) (And a side note: *what* is with Konigsburg's obsession with the word epiphany?)
Rating:
Summary: A moms perspective
Review: I would reccommend this book for ages 12 and up, not 9-12 as your reading level suggests. I enjoyed the interesting word games, strong characterizations & insight into young minds but found the plot slightly contrived. Never-the-less the book held my attention from beginning to end. SIAS: Coming-of age book, dealing with mature subject matter including, teen angst, loss and denial. The book will explain!!
Rating:
Summary: Good book, but not exellent
Review: Being an avid Koningsburg reader, I enjoyed Silent to the Bone, but I thought that many parts of the book were confusing, or could have been done with better editing. I adored the relationship between Conner and Margaret. I thought that Koningsburg should have simplified many aspects of family connections, but have gone into greater detail about Margaret and Branwell's relationship.She did a fabulous job with Margaret and Conner's relationships. I loved hearing about Branwell's backround.
Rating: 
Summary: Effedts of nonverbal communication
Review: Silent to the Bone is a remarkable account of how young people are faced with adult situations and how they can react to them. While at times the theme is playful and almost detective-like, the content is adult oriented and should be taken seriously. This story is compelling in that it offers a solemn glimpse into very disturbing behavior, showing some painfully negative consequences of one's behavior. As you read through the text, the nonverbal communication begins to become as powerful as verbal communication and the reader has the opportunity to really connect with the characters. It is a dark and depressing story, that unfortunately seems in line with contemporary headlines. This book is well written with good descriptions and detail, but it is definetely not for the younger reader or the emotionally immature.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling
Review: This book kept me on the edge of my seat. A must buy for all kids ages 10 and up. I coudn't put it down. I could totaly relate to it.
Rating:
Summary: Editing errors make it hard to fully enjoy this book.
Review: I'm disappointed in this book - not in the plot, but the way the story's told. I was surprised to find that it's very poorly edited. I try not to be nitpicky about things like improper subjunctive use (who cares), but I also found several instances of left-out words - prepositions, articles - little words without which some sentences failed to make much sense. The sentence structure overall was often clunky, and there was way WAY too much detail about people's relationships to each other - sentences something like "Mrs. A looks after B., who was my father's grad student's stepmom's kid." I spent ages wading through sentences like this, and then they usually ended up not being relevant anyway. All this combined into a rather frustrating read. I finished it because I did want to know what would happen, and I found the characters interesting, but I can't imagine this book is going to win many children's hearts.
Rating:
Summary: My summary on Silent to the bone
Review: Silent to the Bone is a great story. The book is about a boy whose name is Branwell and one day when he comes home from school he sees his half-baby sister breathing weird and he starts to yell "Vivi, come here. It's Nikki." The babysitter, Vivian, came into the room and abuses. She tells him to call 911 and he did. When the operator comes on the phone he is silent. Nikki lies in a coma while they send Branwell him to the Juvenile Behavioral Center where everyday his best friend Connor comes and see him. Branwell stayed in the Behavioral Center for 20 days. 10 days went by and on the 11th he was making progress, like, he was touching the letters of the alphabet and spelling out words so that Connor could talk to these people. On the 19th and 20th day he was talking and didn't want anyone to know that, only Connor and Margaret (Connor's big sister). He finally came out of the Behavioral Center and stayed at Margaret's house. On New Year's Eve, Branwell's dad came to pick up Branwell. He came along with Tina (Branwell's new mom) and Nikki. For the first time that Nikki was ever born Tina gave Branwell Nikki to hold.
Rating:
Summary: Touchy subject handled.. handily
Review: From the title, you can see why I'm not a writer!
E.L. Konigsburg is a fantastic writer. Her subjects usually pertain to children, and her characters are children, but the writing is not exclusive to kids. Her characters are real, in a way most juvenile literature misses. She's found a way to capture that moment between youth and adulthood so poignantly that you feel you know or even were the child in the book.
Silent to the Bone was recommended to me by a friend with children just a bit older than mine. It handles a serious subject (child abuse) along with other, no less complex, subjects like sexual awareness and friendship, in a way that makes you want to go back and read it again and again. You want to figure out how it is she does what she does.
I would recommend this book to anyone over the age of 12. Any younger would be at the discretion of the parent, as there are these complex subjects. But, even as an adult, it's well worth reading.
(*)>
Rating:
Summary: I read it during my free period at school: hard to put down!
Review: I am 17. I do not have a first period at school at the moment, so I hang out in the library. One day I decided to search for a casual reading book and this one caught my eye. The name reminded me of Hellen Keller, so I picked it up. I think I had read only the first chapter when I began to think, "Wow, this is a really interesting story. Something about it wants me to keep reading". And I did. I just finished it today actually. The structure of the story got me frustrated at first, since it drives you to the very edge of your seat, then backs up to the beginning again. But a few chapters later, it didn't bother me. Now that I think about it, this book is structured like Titanic, where they tell you a nutshell version of the ending first, then tell you how things led up to it. The entire book was so intriguing, and I really felt for the protagonists. I was surprised it was fiction, since the author told it in such vivid detail and sincerity. Like I said before, this book was difficult to put down. An easy read, but there is a quick reference to sexual subjects a few times, so its PG-13.
(If you have read the book, below will make more sense)
SIAS: Silent to the Bone is a wonderfully written book that left me intrigued the entire time as I sat on the edge of my seat waiting for more.
-Subtracting for the cliche, I think Bran would have given that 4 stars-
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