“A skull speaks in arches and ridges and caverns of bone. It speaks in teeth and cracks, and holes into, and holes through. It says: I was.” This poetic, patterned text goes on to describe various animal skulls, focusing on a particular characteristic of each. “See these hollows, wide as windows and round as moons? They held my eyes. I was the watcher in the winter forest.” A turn of the page shows an illustration of the animal when alive, while artfully showcasing one way it used that physical feature. “When the light was dark … I hunted hares with my eyes full of light. I was.” The visual and textual clues offer opportunities for children to puzzle out what the animal might be before the page turn with its revealing illustration. The narrative concludes with a human skull: “You are the thinker—you can calculate the paths of comets and stars. You are the seeker—you can learn your father’s language, and your grandmother’s too.” Each of the other animals is identified by name at volume’s end, and include a lynx (featured above), deer, wolf, beaver, hummingbird, and owl. Additional information about the skulls appears in the back of the book.

A graceful tribute to the cycle of life reveals the secret language of skulls--and the traits and behaviors of the animals they once belonged to.

Strong, smooth domes, skulls are more than remnants of creatures that used to be. They are artifacts that allow us to travel back through time. Every ridge, hollow, and crevice of a skull reveals something about an animal's habitat, food source, and skill set. By observing the characteristics of six different animal skulls, readers can learn about the lives once led by a lynx, a deer, a beaver, a hummingbird, a wolf, and an owl. Katherine Hocker's lyrical text and Natasha Donovan's fluid artwork, paired with sound scientific data and back matter resources, will ignite a child's native curiosity and encourage mindful observation of the wonders hidden in nature--and ourselves.