Mary Frances Davis, aged 9, of Americus, Ga, for her question:

How many bones are there in a person?

You may have a long neck or a short neck. In either case your neck has seven bones. You may be a boy or a girl. In either case you have twelve pairs of ribs. A baby has thirty‑three separate little vertebrae bones in his backbone. Later in life, nine of these vertebrae are welded to form two bones at the base of the spine.

Eight flat bones fit together to form a box for the brain. This is the skull. There are fourteen bones in the face. There are three very small bones deep in the ear that help us hear sounds. One of the face bones is the chin‑wagging jaw bone.

There are two straight bones between each wrist and elbow. There are two bones between each knee and the hip. It takes three bones to make a Workable finger. Altogether, it takes fifty‑six bones to make the hard working fingers and toes.

These and all the other bones of the body tot up to two hundred and six. The number is the same for small people and tall people, for old and young and for girls and boys.