10% off all books and free delivery over £40
Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks.

More great reads: the best books for 13 year olds

Bone Talk

"Evocative, universally resonant adventure set among a remote Filipino tribe"

View All Editions (4)

The selected edition of this book is not available to buy right now.
Add To Wishlist
Write A Review

LoveReading4Kids Says

LoveReading4Kids Says

Shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book Award 2018

This immersive coming-of-age epic is set in the late nineteenth century, when an age-old Filipino culture first encounters the brutal warmongering of white men.

Samkad cannot wait to become a man through undergoing the ‘Cut’ rites of passage observed by his Bontok tribe (later ignorantly mispronounced by American occupiers as “Bone Talk”), though he fears losing his best friend Luki as a result, for Luki is a girl and their relationship will be forbidden, even though they share the same ambitions - to become a warrior, to fight the Mangili.

Samkad’s absorbing journey to manhood is intensified when a white stranger arrives in his village claiming to be his brother, a stranger who tells tales of a people called Americans. Then, when the Americans arrive, bringing war and destruction to the Bontok’s remote mountains, nothing will be the same again. Not for Samkad, nor for his family and culture.

By turns universal and unique, historically enlightening and emotionally powerful, this relatable, resonant coming-of-age adventure boasts an abundance of heart, atmosphere and action.

Joanne Owen
Reviewed by Joanne Owen
Joanne Owen is a writer, reviewer and workshop presenter whose lifelong love of books began when she was growing up in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
More reviews by Joanne Owen

About Bone Talk

Samkad lives in a tribe deep in the Philippine jungle at the end of the nineteenth century, and has never encountered anyone from outside his own tribe before. He's about to become a man, and while he's desperate to grow up, he's worried that this will take him away from his best friend, Little Luki. However, Samkad's world is about to change utterly.

Read the full description

Find This Book In

Suitable For:
Other Genres:

About

Press Reviews

Author

Book Awards Featuring This Book

More like this

the best books for teenagers

You Might Also Like...

13+ readers

Wild Song

Candy Gourlay

Paperback

In Stock

£7.19 £7.99

13+ readers

The Boy Who Didn't Want to Die

Peter Lantos

Paperback

In Stock

£7.19 £7.99

13+ readers

Truth Be Told

Sue Divin

Paperback

In Stock

£8.09 £8.99

13+ readers

When The World Was Ours

Liz Kessler

Paperback

Temporarily Out Of Stock

£8.99 £9.99

13+ readers

The Gilded Ones

Namina Forna

Paperback

In Stock

£8.09 £8.99

13+ readers

The Enigma Game

Elizabeth Wein

Paperback

In Stock

£8.09 £8.99

Frequently asked questions