Fishbone’s Song by Gary Paulsen

Abstract

Reviewed by: Fishbone’s Song by Gary Paulsen Karen Coats Paulsen, Gary Fishbone’s Song. Simon, 2016 [160p] ISBN 978-1-4814-5226-7 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 6-9 The unnamed narrator of this lyrical tribute to living off the grid has at least four different origin stories explaining how he came to stay with his elderly guardian, Fishbone. However he came to belong to Fishbone, the boy is cherished there, and he grows up listening to Fishbone’s stories about serving in Korea, running ’shine and racing stock cars after the war, falling in unrequited love, and eventually coming to live alone in the small cabin in the woods, where he passes on his stories along with simple blues lyrics that distill the experiences into tight nuggets of hard-earned wisdom. The boy’s narration has a touch of blues rhythm as well, with simple repetitions that expand and flow into reflections on how to make a working bow, what it means to be a hunter, how it feels to be one with the surrounding woods, and how one day his life will go on without Fishbone. It’s a cadence that not every reader will appreciate, but those with an ear for poetic prose and an appreciation for natural beauty unmarred by screens and other technologies will find gems of oral history and enduring lessons embedded in Fishbone’s tales. A readaloud is perhaps the best conveyance; a masterful performance would include careful development of character voices and perhaps even old-timey musical accompaniment, and the results would fully transport listeners to another place and time. Copyright © 2016 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois