Silent to the Bone (23 page)

The illustrations probably come from the kindergartener who lives inside, somewhere inside me, who says, “Silly, don't you know that it is called
show and tell?
Hold up and show and then tell.” I have to show how Mrs. Frankweiler looks and how Jennifer looks. Besides, I like to draw, and I like to complete things, and doing the illustrations answers these simple needs.

And that is my metamorphosis; I guess it was really that and not a conversion at all. The egg that gives form to the caterpillar and then to the chrysalis was really meant to be a butterfly in the first place. Chemistry was my larval stage, and those nine years at home doing diaper service were my cocoon. And you see standing before you today the moth I was always meant to be. (Well, I hardly qualify as a butterfly.) A moth who lives on words.

On January 13, after I had finished doing my Zorba Dance and after I had cried over the phone to Mae Durham and to Jean Karl, after I had said all the I
can't believe it's
and all the
Oh, no, not Teally's,
I turned to my husband and asked a typical-wife question, “Did you ever think fifteen years ago when you married a li'l ole organic chemist from Farrell, Pennsylvania, that you were marrying a future Newbery winner and runner-up?” And my husband answered in typical-David fashion, “No, but I knew it would be a nice day when it happened.”

And it was a nice day. It's been a whole row of wonderful days since it happened. Thank you, Jean Karl, for helping to give Jennifer and Elizabeth and Claudia and Jamie that all-important extra dimension, print on paper. Thank you, Mae Durham and all the members of the committee, for deciding that my words were special. And thank you, Mr. Melcher, for the medal that stamps them special. All of you, thank you, for giving me something that allows me to go home like Claudia-different on the inside where it counts.

Photo Credit: Ron Kunzman

E. L. Konigsburg is one of the most celebrated writers of books for children and young adults and the only author to have a Newbery Medal and a Newbery Honor in the same year. Her first two books, From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth, were Newbery Medal and Newbery Honor books respectively in 1968. She subsequently won her second Newbery Medal almost thirty years later for The View from Saturday.

Her many acclaimed books include The Second Mrs. Giaconda, A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver, and Silent to the Bone.

Also by E. L. Konigsburg

Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

About the B'nai Bagels

(George)

Altogether, One at a Time

A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver

The Dragon in the Ghetto Caper

The Second Mrs. Giaconda

Father's Arcane Daughter

Throwing Shadows

Journey to an 800 Number

Up From Jericho Tel

Samuel Todd's Book of Great Colors

Samuel Todd's Book of Great Inventions

Amy Elizabeth Explores Bloomingdale's

T-Backs, T-Shirts, COAT, and Suit

TalkTalk

The View from Saturday

Silent to the Bone

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

First Aladdin Paperbacks edition April 2002

Copyright © 2000 by E. L. Konigsburg

Aladdin Paperbacks

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, New York 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

Also available in an Atheneum Books for Young Readers edition.

Book design by Ann Bobco

The text of this book is set in Perpetua.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Konigsburg, E. L.

Silent to the bone / E. L. Konigsburg.

p. cm.

“A Jean Karl book.”

Summary: When he is wrongly accused of gravely injuring his baby half sister, thirteen-year-old Branwell loses his power of speech and only his friend Connor is able to reach him and uncover the truth about what really happened.

ISBN-13: 978-0-689-83601-5 (hc.)

ISBN-10: 0-689-83601-5 (hc.)

[1. Mutism, Elective—Fiction. 2. Emotional problems—Fiction. 3. Babysitters—Fiction. 4. Remarriage—Fiction. 5. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 6. Friendship—Fiction.]I. Title.

PZ7.K8352 Si 2000

[Fic]—dc21 00-020043

ISBN-13: 978-0-689-83602-2 (Aladdin pbk.)

ISBN-10: 0-689-83602-3 (Aladdin pbk.)

ISBN-13: 978-1-4424-3973-3 (eBook)