The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale

by Jon Klassen

Other authorsJon Klassen (Illustrator)

Hardcover, 2023

Status

Available

Call number

398

Genres

Fiction

Collections

Fiction, Children

Publication

Walker Books (2023), Edition: 1, 112 pages

Description

"Jon Klassen's signature wry humor takes a turn for the ghostly in this thrilling retelling of a traditional Tyrolean folktale. In a big abandoned house, on a barren hill, lives a skull. A brave girl named Otilla has escaped from terrible danger and run away, and when she finds herself lost in the dark forest, the lonely house beckons. Her host, the skull, is afraid of something too, something that comes every night. Can brave Otilla save them both? Steeped in shadows and threaded with subtle wit--with rich, monochromatic artwork and an illuminating author's note--The Skull is as empowering as it is mysterious and foreboding." --

User reviews

LibraryThing member bibliovermis

It's a sweet, misfit found family story in a delightfully creepy wrapper. Jon Klassen's art is perfect as usual; by turns cute and cozy and scary and menacing. I love it so, so much.

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LibraryThing member tapestry100

In THE SKULL, @jonklassen’s reimagined take on a Tyrolean folktale from @candlewickpress, young Otilla is escaping an unknown danger and fleeing through the night into the forest. She stumbles upon an ancient house and befriends a skull, who gives her sanctuary in exchange for carrying him around

the castle (it isn’t easy for him to roll about). In the night, the skull admits to being in danger himself, and Otilla takes it upon herself to repay the skull’s kindness and help him in his time of need.

Told with monochromatic paintings in Klassen’s signature style, this is a quick, whimsical book that is both macabre and has heart. The author’s note at the end explains the importance of folktales and how distance and time can change the folktale and its memory. A delightful wee book that will definitely start to get you in the Spooky Season mood.

#theskull #jonklassen #candlewickpress #folktale #illustration #illustratedbook #booknerd #booksbooksbooks #bookworm #bookstagram #books #bookreview #readingnow #reading #frommybookshelf #frommybookshelfblog

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LibraryThing member jo_lafaith

Oh this is perfect for a short walk, or before you go to sleep — even if you aren’t the target demographic. I’m so happy I slotted this into my commute. Absolute charming and “creepy”. The narrator of the audiobook is Fairuza Balk which was just an added bonus! Love her. It’s based on a

folktale and has that atmosphere throughout. Jon Klassen is a delightful storyteller and terrific artist. I always enjoy his books.

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LibraryThing member LibrarianRyan

We’re used to getting picture box from John Klassen. This year he does a little longer story and gives us the Skull. This was originally a folktale of a certain sect of Austrian people. There is a small person running away from something into the woods. They come across the house, and in the

house, there is the skull who needs protecting from the rest of the skeleton. This is a folktale in the true tradition of folktales. It doesn’t have the happy everything magical ending that you would see with something Disney has gotten a hold of. If this was Cinderella, toes would be coming off. But in this case, it’s the Skull. The artwork is amazing which is what anybody expects from Klassen and the story is just on the right side of dark for spooky scary times, without being horror or too dark for young children. I loved everything about this, and in the author’s note at the end, John even talks about how he originally wrote the story and where his mind took him to the book that was published. This book is bound to be a classic just like the rest of his picture books that I’ll be heading down to my nieces and nephews for a long time to time.

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LibraryThing member villemezbrown

New Year's Day family picture book read-aloud celebration! (Book 1 of 5)

A dark and eerie tale with a butt-kicking protagonist.

Warning: Some kids might find this a little too scary.

Side note: This book is an adaptation of a folk tale retold in A Book of Ghosts and Goblins by Ruth Manning-Sanders,

but Klassen discusses in his "Author's Note" how much he changed, so I found a copy available on Internet Archive. It's a short chapter and took only a few minutes to read, and I was happy to get the full backstory of the skull that Klassen dropped from his retelling. And it was amusing to see how visually different Klassen's interpretation is from that of illustrator Robin Jacques.

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LibraryThing member raizel

The original story is in A Book of Ghosts and Goblins written by Ruth Manning-Sanders and illustrated by Robin Jacques (1969) and turns out to be rather different from what Mr. Klassen remembered after reading it before he did a presentation in a library in Alaska. In the Author's Note, he explains

that this is the way folktales work.
I started reading this with a couple of 5th graders, who decided that it was maybe too scary/creepy to continue. We read I Want My Hat Back instead---not sure if this isn't ultimately more disturbing.

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LibraryThing member jennybeast

I love this for the full commitment to weirdness and for the sheer thoroughness of Otilia dismembering the headless skeleton. It's very fairy tale and very satisfying.

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