Bones Unearthed! (Creepy and True #3)

Hollihan, Kerrie Logan. Bones Unearthed! (Creepy and True #3)
November 23rd 2021 by Abrams Books for Young Readers

Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

Didn't we all dig in the yard or an empty lot when we were ten and hope that we would unearth some sort of archaeological find? In my case, it was only a rock in the shape of Ohio, but it certainly ignited enough of an interest that I took several courses in ancient archaeology at university. Hollihan's introduction to the book, which covers the many things she needed to learn about in order to research the book, is a great starting point for budding archaeologists. 

There are several prominent but not overly well known excavations covered in this book, including ones uncovering King Richard, bodies affected by Krakatoa and Tambora, bones found in Benjamin Franklin's basement, an early English settlement in the US that experienced hard times, and even information on human offerings! Each dig has the history behind it nicely explained, as well as information about how the excavation proceeded and what information was added to history because of it. 

There are plenty of photographs, and the book is well designed, with page decorations reminscent of crackling bones, as well as lovely full color edgings. There are pages with "factlets", a lot of primary source quotations, and explanations of terms and places. There are endnotes, a selected bibliography, and a helpful index. 

Like this author's Mummies Exposed! and Ghosts Unveiled , Bones Unearthed! capitalizes on the human desire to explore the creepy and somewhat frightening aspects of life and death. Adults have murder mysteries; these are discouraged for some reason for the under twelve crowd, so nonfiction books about the spooky and strange are a great way to feed that longing. Pair this with Albee's  Accidental Archaeologists: Chance Discoveries That Changed the World or Fleming's The Curse of the Mummy: Uncovering Tutankhamun's Tomb for information about archaeology or Williams' True Hauntings: Deadly Disasters or  Braggs' How They Croaked for general horrible endings!