Dem Bones

I recently finished the Bone series by Jeff Smith. It was fun, very fun. Clara and Emma both read the whole series too. I read the color versions of the comic book put out by Scholastic. There is also a one-volume black-and-white edition, but I suspect it is more fun to see the pictures in color.

It is a bit surprising to me that Bone is not more widely known--the ending was a bit weak, but other than that, the whole thing is as good a Tolkien clone as anything else out there--it is probably not up to Harry Potter standards, but it is close. Once you read it, there is no way you will ever forget Phoney Bone or Smiley Bone as character types; the rat creatures are perfect; the villains are nicely evil, the humor is excellent--some parts are laugh-out-loud funny, and there are jokes that build for a long time before the punch line comes along. With a slightly better resolution, the fantasy-tale would be great. And talking about Quiche is now a joke unto itself. A nice Quiche made with a small mammal...