# The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale

**Author:** Jon Klassen
**Grade range:** Grades 3–5
**Age range:** 8–11
**First published:** 2023
**Genre:** Middle Grade Fantasy
**ISBN-13:** `9781536223361`
**ISBN-10:** `1536223360`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/the-skull
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

A retelling of a Tyrolean folktale: a runaway girl named Otilla takes shelter in a haunted house and befriends a lonely talking skull. A #1 New York Times bestseller by Caldecott Medalist Jon Klassen, this grades 3-5 illustrated tale is a 2025-2026 Virginia Readers' Choice (Elementary) nominee.

## Themes

- courage
- friendship

## Where this book is assigned

### Garden State Children's Book Award

- **recommended** · 3rd grade · New Jersey — [source: New Jersey Library Association — Garden State Children's Book Award selections (statewide children's-choice program; students vote, since 1977)](https://njla.org/garden-state-childrens-book-award)
- **recommended** · 4th grade · New Jersey — [source: New Jersey Library Association — Garden State Children's Book Award selections (statewide children's-choice program; students vote, since 1977)](https://njla.org/garden-state-childrens-book-award)
- **recommended** · 5th grade · New Jersey — [source: New Jersey Library Association — Garden State Children's Book Award selections (statewide children's-choice program; students vote, since 1977)](https://njla.org/garden-state-childrens-book-award)

### Virginia Readers' Choice

- **recommended** · 3rd grade · Virginia — [source: Virginia Readers' Choice 2025-2026 Award Nominee Lists (Elementary + Middle School)](https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/instruction/english-reading-literacy/virginia-readers-choice)
- **recommended** · 4th grade · Virginia — [source: Virginia Readers' Choice 2025-2026 Award Nominee Lists (Elementary + Middle School)](https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/instruction/english-reading-literacy/virginia-readers-choice)
- **recommended** · 5th grade · Virginia — [source: Virginia Readers' Choice 2025-2026 Award Nominee Lists (Elementary + Middle School)](https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/instruction/english-reading-literacy/virginia-readers-choice)

---

_Generated from primary-source citations indexed on ReadingList.school. For the full HTML view with reading-list cross-references, see https://readinglist.school/book/the-skull._