Bone

Title: Bone

Bibliographic information:

Author: Jeff Smith

Illustrator: Jeff Smith

• Paperback: 1344 pages
• Publisher: Cartoon Books; Revised edition (September 2004)
• Language: English

Reader's Annotation: Phoney Bone has dragged his cousins - Fone Bone and Smiley Bone into trouble, again!  But this might be the worst yet - because they have been banished from Boneville.  Now they are surrounded by dragons and rat creatures and armies.  Can they survive the coming war against the ultimate evil?

Interest Level: Ages 8-9+

Lexile level: 360

Awards, if applicable: 10 Eisner Awards

11 Harvey Awards

Time Magazine 10 Best Graphic Novels of All Time

Plot summary: After yet another get-rich-quick scheme ends in utter disaster, Phoney Bone and his cousins Fone Bone and Smiley Bone are kicked out of Boneville and forced to wander in the desert.  Escaping the quiche-loving Rat Creatures, the three quickly become separated.  What follows is an epic fantasy of dragons and royalty, and evil which is doomed to sweep across the land unless our heroes can stop it.  This book is available in 9 full-color edition from Scholastic Graphix, a soft-cover boxed set from TokyoPop, and the soft-cover 1300+ pages all-in-one volume from Cartoon Books.

Critical review:

If Lord of the Rings was side-splittingly hilarious, with amazing art and biting social commentary, it would be Bone. Jeff Smith has managed what seems like the impossible - characters which are archetypes yet fully developed characters in their own right.  Phoney Bone, a highly reluctant hero, is the personification of greed.  He schemes and plots and plans - and sometimes even acquires riches and power from his plots.  And yet, he also has a sense of humor, and the reader finds him a sympathetic character.

Why include it?

30 years after the first issue of Bone was published, it is still appealing to an adoring audience.  This is one of the greatest graphic novel series ever; it is epic and approachable by turns.  The art is highly dynamic and the text is at turns hilarious and serious.  I’m a fan, but so are a whole generation of second and third grade boys, who will often point to this series when asked about why they are enthusiastic readers.