Books to Read & More!: BONE GAP

Ruby, L. (2015). Bone Gap. New York, NY: Balzer + Bray.

Finn (AKA Space Man, because he never looks anyone in the face) and Sean O’Sullivan are brothers who live Bone Gap, Illinois and have been left by their mother to fend for themselves. One day out of the blue a beat-up girl named Roza shows up on their property and after a while she and Sean fall in love. Finn sees a man kidnap Roza while at a fair, but is unable to remember his face. Finn begins to date Petey, a beekeeper’s daughter and together they learn that he has a condition called face blindness he does see that kidnapper and tries to tell the sheriff, to no avail, no one believes him anymore. Feeling guilty that no one is out looking for Roza, he sets out to look for her.

This YA mystery is somewhat dark, includes fantasy, suspense, and romance and is appropriate for 9^th grade and up. The theme of this YA novel is that you can find love even when in pain. Finn and Sean’s mother left them and through their pain their family love pulled them together. And it was Finn’s love towards her that made Petey realize that his love was true. Then there’s the love he feels for Roza, caring for someone truly and deeply in a nonsexual way.

You can feel the pain of the characters in this novel. When Roza finds herself hung upside down, her legs and everything exposed and her head feeling fuzzy with blood, what a horrible thing to do to a person. Sean’s memories kept her mind busy

As far as being mistreated for being beautiful, like in the case of Roza or because you are supposedly ugly, like in the case of Petey, seriously! It is true today though, the world treats people by the way they look, why they can’t see that beneath our imperfections exists a beautiful human being inside and out. All we want is to be loved for who we are and not by what we look like. People come and go through our paths, some we remember and some we don’t, it’s the ones that make a great impact that we hold dear to our hearts. Bone Gap has received the Printz Award Winner for Best Young Adult Book of the Year.