 Front cover (first hardcover) | |
| Author | E. L. Konigsburg |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | E. L. Konigsburg |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Young adult novel, Mystery |
| Publisher | Atheneum Books |
Publication date | 2000 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) |
| Pages | 261 pp (first, hard) |
| ISBN | 0-689-83601-5 (first edition, hard) |
| OCLC | 61757595 |
| LC Class | PZ7.K8352 Si 2000 |
| Followed by | The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place |
The story is "loosely based on a real case". [1]
Silent to the Bone is a first-person narrative by Connor Kane, a 13-year-old boy. Connor's best friend Branwell Zamborska is struck dumb and taken to the Juvenile Behavioral Center when his infant sister Nicole suffers a head injury and slips into a coma. The au pair Vivian, having completed Branwell's 9-1-1 call, asserts that Branwell must have dropped Nikki.
Connor knows there is some explanation for Branwell's silence and that he did not intentionally hurt Nikki. He knows that Branwell needs him, and he visits him daily. Because Branwell does not speak, Connor does all the talking and communicates by a kind of sign language, inspired by Jean-Dominique Bauby. "Remember the story of the paralyzed Frenchman who wrote a whole book with the blink of his left eye? I no sooner had the sentence out of mouth than Branwell blinked his eyes twice, very rapidly, and I knew he understood our rules of communication." [2] Initially he elicits clues by presenting keywords on handwritten cards, which leads to Connor writing the alphabet on the backs of these cards and pointing to the letters in order to form short phrases and eventually sentences. Connor recounts his daily visits to his older half-sister Margaret, after her workday, and together they work towards solving the mystery of why Branwell will not speak, and what happened to baby Nikki.
In Branwell's first utterance since the incident he explains that Nikki was neglected and harmed by tobacco smoke coming from Vivian and her boyfriend Morris. He also recounts two sightings of Vivian's breasts, with only one being accidental. The police cannot be told about the child abuse without also learning that Vivian saw Branwell become erect. Connor convinces Branwell to come to terms with his role in the events and stop Vivian from harming another child.
Everyone lives around the university campus in Epiphany, Clarion County, New York — a fictional county in Greater New York.
Branwell Zamborska, 13, is the son of Dr. Stefan Zamborska, a genetic biologist at the university, and Linda Branwell, deceased. Branwell is very honest, smart, caring and tall. His grandparents live in Naples, Florida. Branwell's immediate family now includes step-mother Tina Nguyen and half-sister Nicole or Nikki, a baby. For years after his mother's death, Vivian was his and Nikki's babysitter. The Zamborskas live on Tower Hill near the Kanes.
Connor Kane, 13, is the son of Roderick Kane and his second wife. The Kanes live in a suburban housing development on Tower Hill. He and his half-sister Margaret like each other, but Margaret was never his babysitter, and they only know each other from her semi-formal visits. Connor and Branwell have been friends since nursery school and are now eighth grade students at the middle school downtown, where they commute by city bus.
Margaret Kane, 27, is Connor's half-sister who runs a computer consulting business. When Margaret was Connor's age, their father Kane left Margaret's mother for Connor's. Margaret remains chilled by the experience. Connor's parents are not friendly with her, but they welcome her care for Connor after school and sometimes late into the night. "Call your mother and tell her you're having dinner at the Evil Empire," she says to him one evening. [3] Eventually she resorts to Dad's expertise as University Registrar Kane, regarding the Zamborska case; that and some prodding by Connor effect some warming between daughter and father.
(Margaret is the protagonist of The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place (2004), a kind of prequel to Silent to the Bone.) Yolonda, Vivian, ect.
According to the School Library Journal review, the book contains "themes of communication, relationships in blended families, being different, friendship, adolescence, and shame". [4]
An Amazon.com review stated that Silent to the Bone shows Konigsburg's "keen understanding of young people"; that it is "darker than some of her others, with a remarkably true glimpse into a young man's inner world". [5]
Anne Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the youngest member of the Brontë literary family.
Charlotte Nicholls, commonly known as Charlotte Brontë, was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature. She is best known for her novel Jane Eyre, which she published under the male pseudonym Currer Bell. Jane Eyre went on to become a success in publication, and is widely held in high regard in the gothic fiction genre of literature.
Emily Jane Brontë was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. She also published a book of poetry with her sisters Charlotte and Anne titled Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell with her own poems finding regard as poetic genius. Emily was the second-youngest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, between the youngest Anne and her brother Branwell. She published under the pen name Ellis Bell.
Silent Witness is a British crime drama television series produced by the BBC that focuses on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes. First broadcast in 1996, the series was created by Nigel McCrery, a former murder squad detective based in Nottingham. Twenty-seven series of Silent Witness have been broadcast since 1996, with series 27 airing in January/February 2024.
The Brontës were a nineteenth-century literary family, born in the village of Thornton and later associated with the village of Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte (1816–1855), Emily (1818–1848) and Anne (1820–1849), are well-known poets and novelists. Like many contemporary female writers, they published their poems and novels under male pseudonyms: Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Their stories attracted attention for their passion and originality immediately following their publication. Charlotte's Jane Eyre was the first to know success, while Emily's Wuthering Heights, Anne's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and other works were accepted as masterpieces of literature after their deaths.
Bryon Anthony McCane II, better known by his stage name Bizzy Bone, is an American rapper, singer and the youngest member of the Cleveland rap group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.
Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead is a 1991 American coming-of-age black comedy film directed by Stephen Herek, written by Neil Landau and Tara Ison, and starring Christina Applegate, Joanna Cassidy, Keith Coogan, John Getz, and Josh Charles. The plot focuses on a 17-year-old girl who assumes the role as head of the house when the elderly babysitter whom her mother had hired to watch over her kids while she is in Australia suddenly dies.
North Shore is an American prime-time soap opera that aired on Fox on Mondays at 8 p.m. EST for seven months in 2004 and 2005. It centered on the staff and guests of the fictional Grand Waimea Hotel and Resort on Oahu's North Shore in Hawaii.
Imaginary Crimes is a 1994 American period drama film directed by Anthony Drazan, and starring Harvey Keitel, Fairuza Balk, Kelly Lynch, Vincent D'Onofrio, Seymour Cassel, and Elisabeth Moss. An adaptation of Sheila Ballantyne's 1982 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, it follows a widowed con artist attempting to raise his two daughters in 1962 Portland, Oregon.
The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place (2004) is a young adult novel by E. L. Konigsburg. It is a companion of Silent to the Bone, a kind of prequel published four years later. Parent publisher Simon & Schuster recommends it for "Ages 10 up".
Cole Howard is a fictional character from The Young and the Restless, an American soap opera on the CBS network. The role was originated by N.P. Schoch in 1980 and was dropped in 1981, before being brought back and portrayed by J. Eddie Peck from April 2, 1993, to November 16, 1999. On November 21, 2023, Peck reprised the role.
The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World (2007) is a middle-age or young-adult novel by E.L. Konigsburg. It is somewhat a detective story, and some reviews present it as mystery fiction.
Fortune Is a Woman is a 1957 black and white British-American film noir crime film directed by Sidney Gilliat and starring Jack Hawkins and Arlene Dahl. The screenplay was by Gilliat and Frank Launder, from an adaptation by Val Valentine of the 1952 novel Fortune is a Woman by Winston Graham. Its plot concerns an attempted insurance fraud that goes badly wrong.
Dork Diaries is a children's book series written by Rachel Renée Russell and illustrated by Nikki Russell and Rachel Renée Russell.
Taylor Walker is a fictional character from the American NBC soap opera, Days of Our Lives, a long-running series about working-class life in the fictional town of Salem. She was introduced in 1998 by head writer Sally Sussman Morina, and executive producer Ken Corday by actress Katherine Ellis. The character was reintroduced in 2011, by former General Hospital actresses Natalia Livingston and Tamara Braun, the latter of whom also portrayed the character of Ava Vitali on the same show. Taylor's last appearance was on September 22, 2011.
Jack Theodore Hannah is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. Portrayed by Reuben Milner since 2014 in what was originally a 4-episode stint, the character became a regular character in the following years and had a family unit written around him. After 9 years on and off, Jack would leave in 2023.
Shadowhunters, also known as Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments, is an American supernatural drama television series developed by Ed Decter, based on the novel series The Mortal Instruments written by Cassandra Clare. It premiered in North America on Freeform on January 12, 2016. Primarily filmed in Toronto, Canada, the series follows Clary Fray, who finds out on her eighteenth birthday that she comes from a long line of Shadowhunters, human-angel hybrids who hunt down demons, and has to deal with the struggle of forbidden love.
Emily is a 2022 British biographical drama film written and directed by Frances O'Connor in her directorial debut. It is a part-fictional portrait of English writer Emily Brontë, concentrating on a fictional romantic relationship with the young curate William Weightman. Fionn Whitehead, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Alexandra Dowling, Amelia Gething, Adrian Dunbar and Gemma Jones also appear in supporting roles.