Out from Boneville

Out From Boneville: Bone series Book One
by Jeff Smith

Cartoon Books, 2004







Genre:  Graphic Novel, Humor, Adventure, Fantasy

Honors:  Eisner Award, Harvey Award

Review:  Phoney "Fone" Bone and his two cousins leave Boneville and get lost and separated after a plague of locusts fly over them. Suddenly Fone Bone finds himself in a foreign forest with all sorts of different creatures, one of them a dragon. Winter falls suddenly, keeping Fone Bone stuck in the forest. When winter is over, Fone endeavors to find his two cousins and meets up with Thorn, a human girl who bands together with him to fight the evil rat monsters and assist in helping him find his cousins.

Opinion:  I was surprised to find out that I didn't find myself loving the story as much as I thought I would. There seems to be a lot of hype around the series, so perhaps it gets better as the story develops. I think what bothered me most about it was how Bone was in love with a human - a seemingly impossible relationship. However, I did like the dragon character; his seeming indifference being quite comical. 

Ideas:  Due to the popularity of this graphic novel, in addition to the re-release of the newer colored versions, I would definitely use this series to promote graphic novels in general for reluctant readers or for kids who like graphic novels in general.