Bone Talk

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We follow the story of Samkad, the ten-year-old son of a great warrior in the Bontok tribe who live in the magnificent highlands of the Philippines. It is set during the time of the American Invasion of 1899 and is written with breathtaking sensitivity and skill. Instead of being repulsed by the primitive ways of the tribe we a drawn into the beauty and importance of the spiritual rituals and traditions. We're with Samkad every step of the way as the world he knows, understands and loves is blown apart by the arrival of the Americans.

I thought this book was ok, and to be fair, when I finished this book it didn't leave me with any feelings. I was more relieved instead of wowed because it meant I didn't have to read it anymore! Don't get me wrong, there were interesting parts and the characters and intrigue were nice but the story seemed a bit messy like it was telling you lots of things without focusing on one. But maybe that's just a good reflection of real life. Sometimes things get in the way of your goals. In this case it was the Americans. What are the main differences and similarities between writing for older children and writing picture books? Do you have a preference for one type of writing? The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course. You often tell your stories through the use of dual narratives. Why is this? When writing dual narratives, do you write the stories alongside each other, at the same time, or write one at a time? What does the planning process look like?

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Ms. Gourlay claims that Bone Talk is not history. True, but fiction can lead readers to a broader understanding of other disciplines and life lessons embedded in the material either intentionally or otherwise. In the end, I realized, that while Samkad earned his rightful place in the village, it is his father who learned a great lesson as well. This for me is the most beautiful part of the novel. The story itself it set in three parts and follows the story of Samkad, a boy on the cusp of being initiated into manhood. The rite of passage ceremony though is brought to a halt when the old ones set a task that, ultimately, sets in motion events that change the tribe's future for all time. Together with Luki, a ferociously-willed young girl, his father and others (not wanting to give the plot away), Samkad finds his whole world changed and challenged forever. Will he have the strength and courage within to save his people and what will his people and their culture mean to him when he encounters others? For one, these colonisers' intent and interests can be further fleshed out through a comparison of the objects they gave the Bontocs. What do music and books represent? What are guns for? How powerful are photographs? By bringing these objects in the novel and planting them at well selected spots or parts in the entire narrative, I thought about the ways we were subjugated. They differ in function but were used to colonize just the same.

When I started writing I wanted to publish picture books. I only started writing novels because it was so hard to break into the picture book world. Is It a Mermaid is a dream come true. Picture books in the UK are published with an eye to the 0 to three year old reader, and publishers make money through translations in other markets … this means many interesting challenges to the storytelling and the story itself. Writing for specific markets, you have to consider so many things as an artist – not just theme and story shape but the emotional capacity of your reader. You also have to take into account that your reader has no experience, no hindsight. This, I think, is what differentiates the young reader from an adult reader. It begs the question why our current behaviour towards each other is every man for himself, when for thousands of years the community spirit held everyone together. It was a beautiful thing.But everything changes when a new boy arrives in the village. He calls himself Samkad’s brother, yet he knows nothing of the ways of the mountain. And he brings news of a people called ‘Americans’, who are bringing war and destruction right to his home . . .

Gourlay has built a compellingly believable world of a people in an evocatively depicted world – in this case, it looks to me like the Cordillera’s Igorot people – on the cusp of being drawn into the state as the colonising world arrives with gusto. Samkad is an engaging narrator, excited by his changing status, keen to reach manhood and grappling with his responsibilities to his community, to his ancestors and to his friends and family. She has managed to avoid many of the Orientalist traps and myths of the ‘noble savage’ that could have tainted this and in doing so has constructed an image of Igorot life fitting for this realist genre: I look forward to reading Igorot novelists telling their own stories. In the meantime, we’ve got a well-cast young adult novel opening up a largely untold tale of the USA’s empire alongside an empathetic image of an Indigenous community still marginalised in Philippines life. It had a good plot, a good setting, a good writing style, but the main character "Samkad" was just not connecting with me, somehow. I didn't quite find myself relating to this kid. It didn't bother much to me what was happening as I was following his story. The stakes were somewhat, let's say, not too high for me to care. Bone Talk was received well by critics and has been shortlisted for many awards, including the Costa Book Awards 2018 and the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2019. And then, there is Luki. Irrepressible and persistent, she is Samkad's best friend. It is through her that social class and the roles of Bontoc women are presented. How she defies and disobeys them not because she is a bad girl. Luki is smart and perceptive, protective of her family and friends. She knows who she is and where she belongs. These are all evident in the dialogues she has with Samkad implying that, even girls or women, can fight for the people and the place they love. How would you envisage teachers using ‘Bone Talk’ in their classrooms? Is there an age group that the book would work particularly well with? Do any activities or ideas spring to mind?On the eve of his coming-of-age ritual, Samkad and his village find themselves on the verge of a changing world.