Book Review: A Bone to Pick

Book: A Bone to Pick (A Peggy Henderson Adventure book #4) by Gina McMurchy-Barber

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Description:

Peggy is off to a Viking site in North America where she unearths the remains of a brave young warrior.

It’s a dream come true for Peggy Henderson when her friend, Dr. Edwina McKay, lets her tag along to the Viking settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows National Park in Newfoundland, where Dr. McKay will be teaching archaeology field school for the summer. Peggy already knows a lot about archaeology — having been on three previous excavations — but does she need to brag about it so much? After alienating herself from the other students with her know-it-all attitude, Peggy accidentally discovers a Viking burial cairn. The students and archaeologists are ecstatic. But when it comes time to excavate, she’s banned from participating in the dig. Will Peggy’s trip to Newfoundland end just as badly as the Vikings’ did? She’s afraid it will — that is until she learns an unexpected lesson from a Viking warrior.


Rating: 3 stars

Review:

A Bone to Pick reads like two stories in one as they connect later on near the end. In this story, 13 years old Peggy Henderson dreaded spending her summer painting her aunt's house when what she really wanted was to join her friend Dr. Edwina McKay, an archeology professor who will be teaching at a archaeology field school in Newfoundland. The topic of study will be on the Vikings.

Unfortunately, there was no way Peggy could afford to go. But at the last minute Dr. McKay got Peggy an all expense paid trip and all she would have to do is be an assistant to Bertha the cook. Problem is Peggy can't cook and the only thing she's good at is dishing out archaeological knowledge.

Once Peggy landed in Newfoundland it was off to a bad start, she immediately annoyed the driver Robbie (a student at the field school) with her know-it-all attitude making the five hours drive back to camp awkward. The next morning, she ruined breakfast by not following orders and she was also soon becoming known as a know-it-all around the camp. It's great that Peggy has this love of archeology but it's her superior attitude and entitlement issues don't make it easy to like her. However, she does get better near the end, after she endures a huge helping of humble pie.

Peggy thought she would be able to join in on the excavation study but she finds her presence is not wanted from most of the students and the Director of the study, Professor Brant. It wasn't until after meeting a new friend Louise a local girl who works at the Viking tourist post that she stumbled upon a real life excavation site. But thanks to her bumbling, both her and Louise were pushed out of their find. It was interesting to see that finally Peggy was starting to realize she was causing a lot of problems not just for herself but for Bertha, Dr. McKay and for Louise. Near the end she did try to fix everything.

This book has a strange format that almost slows down the momentum of the book. First, it opens with a prologue that follows an adventure of a Viking girl named Sigrid who dreams of being a warrior instead of one day becoming a wife and mother. Following that the first chapter introduces the reader to Peggy and her love of archeology. Then throughout the book Sigrid and Peggy's stories alternate until a connection is later shown.

Although this book was an interesting fun little read, I think I found all the information about the Vikings and the First Nation people even more interesting.