The Boneshaker [Hardcover]

Kate Milford (Author), Andrea Offermann (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 24, 2010

Thirteen-year-old Natalie Minks loves machines, particularly automata—self-operating mechanical devices, usually powered by clockwork. When Jake Limberleg and his traveling medicine show arrive in her small Missouri town with a mysterious vehicle under a tarp and an uncanny ability to make Natalie’s half-built automaton move, she feels in her gut that something about this caravan of healers is a bit off. Her uneasiness leads her to investigate the intricate maze of the medicine show, where she discovers a horrible truth and realizes that only she has the power to set things right.

Set in 1914, The Boneshaker is a gripping, richly textured novel about family, community, courage, and looking evil directly in the face in order to conquer it.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6–8—Natalie Minks, 13, likes machines—the way they make sense, the way all the gears and cogs fit together to make something happen. When Dr. Jake Limberleg's Nostrum Fair and Technological Medicine Show stops in at her father's bicycle repair shop because a wagon wheel has fallen off and disappeared, Natalie knows that the man is not meant to fit into the machinery of her life. Her ailing mother has told her stories of bargains made with the Devil, and of besting wickedness by looking it right in the face. Limberleg has a collection of clockwork figures that work without being wound up and never seem to run down. When Natalie begins to have inexplicable visions of the malevolent forces facing Arcane, MO, she isn't convinced that she is equipped to fight the evil at hand. Soon almost everyone is taken in by Limberleg's promises of miraculous healing and snake-oil cures, and it becomes clear to Natalie that she is their only hope of survival. Enhanced by full-page drawings, this intricate story, set in the early 20th century, unfolds with the almost audible click of puzzle pieces coming together. In the gothic tradition of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes (S & S, 1962), The Boneshaker will earn itself a place in the annals of stories about children and the struggle between good and evil.—Heather M. Campbell, formerly at Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Not to be confused with Cherie Priest's steampunk novel of the same name (though there is just the barest whiff of steampunk here), this historical fantasy uses the classic devil-at-the-crossroads motif as the foundation for an elaborate and intricate gearwork story set in the little town of Arcane, Missouri, in 1913. Milford weaves a lot of strands into this tale. The most prominent involves the town's resident ancient bluesman, who is said to have had a run-in with the devil ages ago, and 13-year-old heroine Natalie, whose latent powers as a sort of seer are awakened when Jake Limberleg's Nostrum Fair and Technological Medicine Show arrives in town. She just knows that there's something more sinister at work than the typical hucksterism of snake-oil salesmen, and the plot soon encompasses everything from the original fall of Lucifer to the Jack tales of classic American folklore. This is not light reading, as readers will have to pay close attention to keep track of the large (but excellently drawn) cast of characters and detailed, but hardly belabored, descriptions of mechanical contraptions, bolstered by an array of fine-lined illustrations that enhance the already vivid and cinematic read. Both impressive and ambitious, Milford's first novel rarely overreaches as it lays out an eerie and atmospheric vision of early-twentieth-century Americana, electrified by supernatural traces and a generously complex look at good, evil, and the wide swath in between. Grades 5-8. --Ian Chipman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Clarion Books; None edition (May 24, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0547241879
• ISBN-13: 978-0547241876
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #394,696 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kate is the author of THE BONESHAKER and THE BROKEN LANDS (both from Clarion Books), as well as their companion novella, THE KAIROS MECHANISM (available at www.clockworkfoundry.com). She has also written several plays, a couple of screenplays, and an assortment of scholarly articles on subjects as diverse as self-aware ironmongery and how to make saltwater taffy in a haunted kitchen. She is also a contributing writer for the Nagspeake Board of Tourism and Culture at www.nagspeake.com and a passionate shutterbug. Originally from Annapolis, she now splits her time between Brooklyn and the Magothy coast. She has a husband called Nathan and two dogs called Sprocket and Ed, and drinks way too much coffee.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Shivery Good! March 27, 2010

By K. Coombs VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Natalie loves machines. She helps her mechanic father in his shop, repairing motorcars and bicycles and trying to build clockwork machines like a small flyer. It's 1914, and Arcane isn't an ordinary small town. The crossroads is a place of power, where the devil once battled an old musician for his soul and lost.

At least, that's the story Natalie's mother tells her, but is it true? As The Boneshaker progresses, we learn not only that the story is true, but that the uncanny Doctor Jake Limberleg's Nostrum Fair and Technological Medicine Show has something to do with demons, as well.

Natalie, whose biggest concern up till now has been her inability to ride the odd bicycle her father has rebuilt for her, the titular boneshaker, now has a whole new set of worries. With her friends, she begins to explore the eerie doctor's medicine show. What she discovers frightens her, but things get even worse when her brother and father decide to bring her ailing mother to the medicine show for treatment.

The author builds her story--and the suspense--beautifully, pulling readers deeper into Natalie's all-too-appropriate fears about Dr. Limberleg and the "paragons" who accompany him. Meanwhile, Natalie's continuing efforts to ride the boneshaker lead us to a final chase scene in which she must ride the bike on a wild night-time journey to save her town and everyone she loves.

Milford gives us fun details like the time Natalie tries to sell a single bee to the town's shopkeeper, along with curious details such as the miniature automata inside Dr. Limberleg's trailer or the way the front left wheel pops off of every vehicle that comes into Arcane through the crossroads. And the medicine show, a kind of carnival, is described nightmarishly well.

The characters here are as marvelously strange as the medicine show. We get to know Old Tom Guyot, the elderly black musician who challenged the devil and won; a devious drifter named Jack (whom you might recognize from folklore); a mysterious rich man who isn't quite human; and stalwart townspeople such as the pharmacist and Natalie's friends Alfred and Miranda.

Milford's work hints of magical realism and Alfred Hitchcock's subtle touch rather than today's scare-a-minute horror stories. A rich and shivery historical fantasy--or what I like to call rural fantasy--The Boneshaker will appeal to kids who are willing to take the time to watch fear unfold in increasingly unnerving detail.

Note for Worried Parents: In addition to mature themes relating to the serious illness of a parent, The Boneshaker features pacts with the devil and demonic horror elements. It's definitely creepy, which explains the publisher's suggested reading range of 10 and up.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Teeth-Chattering Boneshaker March 31, 2010

By Sunny Sewing Honeybee

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Natalie has a mechanically-inclined father who keeps a marvelous bicycle workshop and has just restored a vintage bicycle for her. Too bad she can't figure out how to ride it! Together, they are attempting to bring a little automaton airplane to life. Natalie's mother has a remarkable storytelling ability that brings tales to life. And, so it seems at least, someone has just come to town who can bring things to life . . . without any effort at all.

Milford's unusual setting and characters all work together well to create a magically supernatural feel to the story. Arcane, the town's name, means "mysterious," and the nearby ghost town adds to that feel. The cast of characters in town, both visiting and normal residents, are incredibly complex, including former slave Tom, best known for making a bet with the devil. Natalie discovers that though the town seems very boring on the surface, it has hidden secrets. With the arrival of a "medicine man" and his unusual entourage to the seemingly quiet town, things start becoming really interesting . . . and more than a bit scary.

Why does the medicine man seem to single her out? Why does Natalie seem to be the only person who can tell something shady, and perhaps even downright evil, is going on? Is something really, or is she merely overreacting to things that can be explained? One of the most interesting--and unnerving!--aspects of this book is that you simply don't know one way or the other until about two-thirds of the way through the text. While I don't want to give away any of the plot, since this is the type of story where it's important that things are allowed to be revealed slowly, as a quick warning, there is content that sensitive readers may find overly scary or disturbing.

The beginning is a tad slow since it introduces the characters, rather than really attempting to draw you right in. However, hang in there--from there on, it's a bumpy and exciting ride on Natalie's Chesterlane Eidolon.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars As good as Bradbury; maybe better February 2, 2011

By Pop Bop TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

Sometimes the editorial reviews that head up these comment sections can be very snarky and dismissive. However, the two reviews that lead off for this book seem to be very much to the point. I was pleased to see that one of them referred to Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes". That is exactly what comes to mind while reading "Boneshaker". Sometimes Bradbury could get carried away and veer toward self-parody in his breathless descriptions, but "Boneshaker" seems more restrained, and builds more steadily and creepily to its conclusion.
The book also introduces a resourceful, sympathetic, aware, aqnd forthright female protagonist. Think of a character like Scout, from "To Kill a Mockingbird", and you'll have a sense of this character, overalls and all.
There are currently an awful lot of books coming out with magic in them, as well as dark versus light type themes, but many of them are sort of manic, with a great deal of exposition about their particular "hook", (alchemy, greek gods, egyptian gods, scandinavian gods, the circles of hell, and so on). Many of them are fun and worthy. But, it seems that "Boneshaker" has a special place in that list mainly because the conflict is built from the ground up on subtle, compelling and satisfying writing, and how nice it is to recommend a book as "well written".