David is nine and growing up fast in 1950s Tennessee. He knows all the bones of the human body and one day, he’s going to be a doctor like his father. Malcolm is David’s best friend. He also knows the bones and together, they explore their universe. But this is the Deep South and Malcolm is black.

In such a racially intolerant society, there is no greater sin than to mix with Negroes. Bone by Bone aims to be the next To Kill a Mockingbird and what it lacks in execution it makes up for in intention. Both Malcolm and David are believable characters. In David’s father, the author presents a man of contradictions. On the one hand he is intolerant of Negroes, claiming he will shoot any who dare to enter his house. Yet in family friend Tinney, he also has a loving, mature Negro woman who he adores and respects.

This novel is prescient and always will be, because now is always a good time to explore the racial intolerance that often divides like minds in working towards a truly multicultural community.