This tale from 1Cgold mountain 1D tells the story of 14 year old Bing-wing Chan who lives with his father, Ba, the bone collector. Bing and his father are working in Canada hoping to save enough money to send to China for Bing 19s mother and the rest of the family. Bing is sure that this will never come to pass as his father gambles and drinks away most of the meager earnings he makes as a bone collector.

Ba digs up the skeletons of dead Chinese so the bones can be returned to China for burial. Bing is ashamed of how his father earns his living, but cannot refuse to help Ba in his grisly job. One night in the graveyard, Ba and Bing dig up a headless skeleton. It is after this that things go from bad to worse for Ba and Bing as the cursed ghost of the headless skeleton haunts them.

Part ghost story, part historical fiction, Yee presents the story of turn of the century Chinese life in western Canada in a new and entertaining fashion. Readers of all ages will empathize with Bing as he tries to make a better life and to solve the mystery of the headless skeleton. An entertaining read.

Historical fiction at its best

Learning about early Chinese Canadian life by living the stories of their pioneers ... this book is for children and adults

A little over 100 pages, a quick summer read for young readers/tweens who enjoy fictional history and foreign cultures. A good story with a GREAT ending. I really liked this little book.

this book was OK....it was an easy read.

a

Reviewed for VOYA

Oh dear. I was quite excited to read this, and shelled out for the nice hardcover (secondhand, of course). I was feeling homesick for Van, and Chinese ghosts are seriously (and tragically) under-represented in English-language fiction.
The concept here was alright. The setting and historical accuracy were very good, but even knowing the city of Vancouver like the back of my hand, I had some difficulty picturing each scene (I don't think Yee is very adept at scene-setting, though an effort was made). Plot was thin, but, yeah, he tried. There were many small ghost stories woven in throughout, including one that definitely reminded me of the opening scenes of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away, but they were extraordinarily flimsy and concise. There was potential there. I would have happily read a full story based on that or one of the similar hauntings.
This would make a fine, slightly spooky "local history" required-reading assignment for Vancouver-area middle-graders. As something you'd have to write a book report on, it was satisfactory. But it didn't cut the mustard as a book entered into the Middle Grade Madness October Readathon, and I apologise once more for a weak recommendation. It also failed to live up to my expectations.
Meanwhile, if anyone could recommend a proper spooky haunting with unquiet Chinese spirits (and ghost money and appeasement - I suppose rather similar to this, but with much more Chinese superstition and folklore content), I'd appreciate it. Tired of Western ghosts - I've heard it all before. ;)
Maybe it's still the effects of the best-worst movie I've ever seen, Big Trouble in Little China, all these decades later, but I still have a healthy appetite for the Chinese supernatural. That, and dim sum and pork buns, but that's probably more because of lovely old Vancouver. I miss you. Like I miss decent ha gao and shu mai, and the homey stench of E. Pender street.
TL:DR - decent historical old Vancouver setting, only marginally spooky. Watery like congee.

This one was actually really entertaining. Half horror story, half historical fiction. I really enjoyed the storyline and being set in old timy Vancouver made it that much more interesting. The discussion on racism and persecution is worked throughout the story but not in a way that shoves it your face. I really enjoyed this one.

I read this because I am starting up Literary Circles with my class and wanted to make sure that it fit with my theme of 'immigration.' It was a very easy read (I think it took me less than three hours) but was an interesting storyline that grabbed me from the beginning. I look forward to having my students read this!

I got this book for a bargain and after seeing the appealing discount, I then decided to read the synopsis. I was a bit skeptical about the grave digging because that's bordering on Horror and that is a genre that I do not want to get involved in. I bought the book anyway because I've never read about Chinese culture and I wanted to broaden my horizons.

It's the early 1900s and Bing and his father, Ba, are in the graveyard to go dig up the bones of a person and send them home after it's been cleaned. Ba's been doing this for years so it's a bit strange when Mr. Shum's body is dug up sans head. Bing is immediately creeped out because weird things are happening and Ba keeps saying that ghosts don't exist...yes, that's usually the first line in a horror movie and those people don't make it out alive.

Even with that you'd think that yes, this book is in fact a horror but actually reading it, you don't get that feeling. There are creepy bits in the book but I think this was more about resting in peace than spirits coming through the veil to make life a living hell for those that are still alive.

Characters: Bing seemed like a weak character in the beginning. He was 15 and technically still a child. It's normal for kids to be scared...even adults get scared. There was a lot of character development that took place for Bing. He became brave and stood up for himself and for others. It seemed like his biggest challenge was his father.

Ba was a very stubborn man. I was glad when he learnt his lesson...well, he learnt something.

Likes: I loved the writing style and I thought that this book was fast paced. I liked that we could learn about the Chinese culture too. The plot was amazing.

Overall Thoughts: I was reluctant to read this book but only because it wasn't No.1 on my TBR. I'm glad I decided to pick it up. This certainly deserves a spot on my 2016 Top 10. An amazingly fast read. I loved everything about this book.

Canada does not have a very clear slate when it comes to prejudice in its history. This novel is a lovely tale of Chinese immigrants trying to make a living against the bigotry of Canadians in Vancouver in the early 1900's. Through young Ching's bravery, a bridge is built between Chinese belief in ghosts and the ghost of a white man. The novel could have been more damning and critical, but Paul Yee chose instead to highlight the values of the Chinese community that makes them valuable to society.
After a massive riot against Chinatown, "Hundreds of Chinese left their jobs. Downtown hotels and restaurants, West end homes, steamers, logging camps and shingle mills were all suddenly inconvenienced."(from the historical afterword of the novel). The Chinese, as do today's immigrants, got jobs that others did not want.

4.5 stars The Bone Collectors Son

This book is like a very long ghost story. I really enjoyed the book and thought it was actually interesting. Although that might be because I don't have a strong opinion on whether ghosts are real or not. I feel like anyone who strongly does not believe on ghost would find this book dumb and uninteresting. Only because the whole story is about a boy, his father, and the two ghosts they are dealing with.

In this book a man and his son who dig up bones in Canada and send them back to China to be re buried find a skeleton that's missing the skull. They think nothing of it and are just upset they won't get paid now because they didn't find the whole skeleton. Then strange things start happening like the car thing keeps shutting down, but then as soon as they step off it starts working again. Soon the son gets a job as a house boy for richer people. He is excited to go but then he hears stories of the house being haunted, and once he gets there he agrees. Lots of strange things happen. Windows shatter, the smell of cigar smoke, things rolling across the room and more. On top of all that he finds out his dad is now very sick. The fortune teller tells them it's because of Shum, the man whose skull is missing. The fortune teller said ¨ I've thought about this. I believe Shums spirit wants to return home.Your father dug up his bones but couldn't send them back to China because of the missing skull. That's why Shums spirit refuses to stay still now. He's making your father sick because he wants his help.¨ (yee, p. 95) He is making him sick until they find his skull. So Bing (the son) has to appease two ghosts before anything else happens. Along with the story about the ghost the book also mentions how hard it is to be Chinese and living in Canada. Throughout the book there are multiple examples of the white people in Canada thinking they are superior. Like Bing was almost beaten to a pulp on multiple occasions just for walking down the street. Also when Ba had to go to the hospital they had to question if the hospital would even help because he isn't white. Uncle Won said ¨Hard to say. When someone is so sick, who can tell if he'll live or die? At the hospital the doctors will know.¨ Then Bing said, ¨ Do they let in Chinese?¨ (yee, p.119) Many more little things like those are mentioned.

tOverall, I really enjoyed this book. It was different to read a story about being haunted. Not even just by one ghost but two! It had lots of twists and turn and was very entertaining. It also would then make you feel bad for the characters and really empathize with them. That's why I rated this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I would definitely recommend reading this book.