Give Me Back My Bones!

A pirate skeleton seeks to put its bones back together in this rhyming first book of anatomy!

Cast a spyglass ’round here, while breakers curl and pound here.
There’s treasure to be found here – I feel it in my bones!

“For budding biologists as well as general fans of pirates, poetry, and wordplay … a fuller alternative to Bob Barner's Dem Bones. Both macabre and cheery—a rare treat.” Kirkus Reviews (Starred review)

“For preschool and kindergarten students curious about the inner workings of the human body.” School Library Journal

“This clever, cumulative tale is enhanced by its endpapers, which feature scattered labelled bones at the front and a full skeleton at the back. Daffy and scholarly at once.” Booklist

Friendly, cartoony, and understated, with humerus, er, humorous details.” Horn Book


A stormy night at sea has uncovered some long-buried secrets and surprises. Is that the mast of a shipwreck? A faded pirate hat? And what’s that hiding in the sand? A mandible and a clavicle, phalanges and femurs, a tibia and a fibula – could there be a complete set of bones scattered across the ocean floor? And who might they belong to?

A jaunty rhyme takes readers on an underwater scavenger hunt as a comical skeleton tries to put itself back together piece by piece. Make no bones about it – this rollicking read-aloud will have young ones learning anatomy without even realizing.