Matt's Reviews > The Skeleton Tree

This was a fun book that kept you reading. However, as others have pointed out, much of the survival theme and urgency gets lost in other elements in the story. There is a supernatural thread involving the raven and wolves; there is the family drama involving Chris and Frank; there is another supernatural thread involving the skeleton tree. Still, there were some interesting modern threads, such as all the detritus from the Japanese tsunami washing up on the shore, both providing the survivors with some needed supplies as well as sad mementos of lives destroyed. Chris poignantly buries these in the forest. I deeply objected to the behavior of the grizzly bear in the story, basically hunting down Chris. It stretched credulity and portrays an inaccurate and dangerous view of the behavior of bears.

Still, this was an exciting and at times scary read that will probably appeal to many YA readers.