Camilla Kuhn

This is currently my daughter Mirah's favorite book. I'm sure part of the appeal is that the main character's name is close to hers, but it's also that this book is flat out great. I've read it about a thousand times and I'm not even sick of it. High praise!

When Samira learns that we all have skeletons she's so grossed out that she can't eat (not with BONES in her MOUTH), can't run around (her BONES are in the way), and doesn't even want to be around her best friend Frida or her mom (they're both so BONY).

Unexpectedly, Samira's mom doesn't try to comfort her. She just offers to remove Samira's skeleton. Ha! Samira realizes she needs her skeleton after all and runs to find her friend Frida to make up. This is my favorite part of the story. Samira yells, "Help! My skeleton has gone completely nuts! Hold me tight!" and Frida runs to her and says, "And you hold me tight, too!" and they hold each other and dance around. So sweet. Mirah and I love to act it out.

Then the end is totally great, as the next day at school Samira learns we all have muscles under our skin that look exactly like STEAK!

I'm not sure any kid will pick this message out, but as an adult, I feel like this book subtly explores the theme of how we're all the same under our skin. Samira literally stops seeing people's skin and only sees people as skeletons.

A more obvious theme is that our bodies can seem kind of gross when broken down into our constituent parts. I read an interview where the author said her inspiration came from her experience as a kid learning we're just a tiny speck in the universe. It's hard to deal with that stuff. But once we integrate that knowledge and accept it, we're okay.… (meer)

This was an interesting picture book, that I imagine would really appeal to some kids while others might find it a little weird or creepy. It was an interesting way to talk about what's under our skin (bones, muscles), and I think if you had a kid who was into stories that are a little more creepy in nature, or really fascinated by that kind of stuff, they'd find it interesting. Storywise, I thought it was okay, but it may not be one of those books that I'll remember forever. Still, I don't think I've ever seen a book quite like it!… (meer)

This was an interesting picture book, that I imagine would really appeal to some kids while others might find it a little weird or creepy. It was an interesting way to talk about what's under our skin (bones, muscles), and I think if you had a kid who was into stories that are a little more creepy in nature, or really fascinated by that kind of stuff, they'd find it interesting. Storywise, I thought it was okay, but it may not be one of those books that I'll remember forever. Still, I don't think I've ever seen a book quite like it!… (meer)