Hilary and the Secret Skulls

About the Book

Hilary Stone, thirteen years old, isn’t interested in the “dailies” like cleaning her room and setting the dinner table. Her parents, both busy, high-powered New York attorneys, live and work on the Upper East Side of New York City. Hilary and her mother do not agree. Hilary loves to read, is fascinated by prehistory and her mother wishes she were more interested in clothes, make-up and boys like other tween girls.

Hilary pays a number of visits to the Museum of Natural History to pursue her interest in prehistory. While there, staring at the skulls of Australopithecus, Peking Sinanthropus, Neanderthal and Cro- Magnon men, she is suddenly transported back in time to these ancient civilizations.

During these astral projections, she experiences what life was really like for these prehistoric peoples. Each time she is drawn into fl ames in the eye sockets of the skulls on display at the museum.

Among Australopithecines, two million years ago, she escapes a fi re; with Peking Sinanthropus, 500,000 years ago, she witnesses a murder; among the Neanderthals, 100,000 years ago, she falls into an animal trap and with the Cro-Magnons, 30,000 years ago, she watches a cave painting lesson. Each time Hilary astral projects, she returns to present time. During this time, Hilary meets Dr. Amaan, an archaeologist at the museum and they become friends. She explains to Hilary that she has probably astral projected into different prehistoric periods.

Hilary’s best friend Karin Wong’s brother, Phillip, is interning at the museum with Dr. Amaan. Hilary and Phillip Wong share their interest in paleontology and archaeology. Together they visit his French teacher, who knew Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin when he lived and worked in New York City in the 1950s. Together, they also visit Dr. Amaan at the Anthropology Foundation.

Hilary’s parents become concerned about her and she arranges a meeting at the museum with Dr. Amaan. Her parents bring Dr. Gottsieg, Hilary’s counselor, along to help them evaluate her astral projections.

About the Author

Nancy Garfield Woodbridge authored the picture story books, The Tuesday Elephant, illustrated by Tom Feelings, published by T. Y. Crowell, and The Dancing Monkey, illustrated by Rocco Negri, published by G. P. Putnam and Sons. She also directed several projects for Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.: Worlds to Explore, A Handbook for Brownie and Junior Girl Scouts, Careers to Explore and From Dreams to Reality, a Career Education Program, as well as Juvenile Justice. On scholarship she received a BA in Literature from Bennington College in Vermont. She graduated with an MS in Education from Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Ms. Garfi eld Woodbridge has been writing since she fi rst held a pen at age eight when she wrote her first novel.