SOLVED. Kids’ chapter book - Kid falls into a cellar (while clearing out a city lot) and finds a skeleton with a small wooden bird. Girl tries to discover the skeleton's identity. Kids belong to a gardening club? Read around 1998. Spoiler ahead. [s]

[Megan]

I read this book in grade 4 (around 1998). It was part of the Ontario (Canada) Catholic reading curriculum.

It was about a group of kids that were part of a gardening club, I think. They were clearing out an empty lot in a city when one of the kids falls into a cellar that had been overgrown with weeds and debris. In the cellar was a skeleton and a small wooden bird with its legs snapped off.

The main character (a girl) tries to discover who the skeleton was throughout the book. She finds out that the bird was snapped off of an ornate piece of furniture that was in a museum or gallery, and this leads her to discover who the skeleton was somehow, and how they ended up in a cellar.

[Rainbowheart]

An Episode of Sparrows?

[Megan]

Rainbowheart wrote: "An Episode of Sparrows?"

No, that doesn't look like it... thanks for the suggestion though! The book takes place in the late 20th century (pre-2000s) and I'm almost positive it took place in the United States or Canada.

[Rainbowheart]

The Green Angels

[Kris]

The Green Angels by Nicky Millard sounds like your book.

Search using WorldCat.org:
https://www.worldcat.org/advancedsear...
Keyword: gardening skeleton | 1960-2000 | Juvenile | Fiction | Book | English
(Note: Sometimes the website glitches and defaults to a non-English language. Try right-clicking a blank area on the webpage and selecting Translate to English (or similar) from the browser's menu.)

[Kris]

I added a few details to the header/ topic title. Feel free to edit it.

[Megan]

Rainbowheart wrote: "The Green Angels"

I’m almost positive that’s it!! Thank you so much, Kris!

[Kris]

Glad we could help, Megan.

Google Books has a snippet preview of The Green Angels by Nicky Millard. You might get lucky searching for keywords:
https://books.google.com/books?id=uD0...

Quotes from the book:
- "I haven't seen my father for 60 years - and we never did get along very well anyway."
"Then how did you know it was him in that root cellar?" asked Tammy.
- ... the bird to Mr. Winstone.
He took it from her palm reverently and sat back in his chair, studying it silently.
"I didn't break it off," whispered Jenny, close to...
- "... and move to Canada. At some point during its installation here this little bird was broken off and never seen again."

[Rainbowheart]

Yay, glad to help out!