📚 Book📚 Kids · Ages 7–10Graphic Novels / Comics

Bone (1991)

About This Book

Three Bone cousins, cartoony white creatures who look like they wandered out of a comic strip, are lost in a vast, mysterious valley full of rat creatures, dragons, and an ancient evil stirring beneath the mountains. The series begins as lighthearted slapstick comedy and gradually deepens into a sweeping fantasy epic with real stakes and genuine emotional weight. It's like watching a Looney Tunes cartoon grow up into Lord of the Rings without ever losing its sense of humor.

Why It's a Classic

Jeff Smith self-published Bone as a black-and-white comic book for thirteen years before Scholastic collected it in full-color editions that reached millions of new readers. The series works because Smith never abandons the comedy even as the stakes escalate; Phoney Bone's greedy schemes continue to cause trouble even as ancient prophecies unfold and armies march to war. Smith's artwork is remarkably versatile, shifting from the simple, expressive Bone characters to richly detailed forest landscapes and terrifying battle scenes within the same panel. Gran'ma Ben, the seemingly ordinary old woman who turns out to be a legendary warrior, is one of the great reveals in graphic novel history. The complete saga runs to over 1,300 pages and sustains its quality throughout, a feat of storytelling endurance that few graphic novels can match.

Fun Fact

Smith financed the original comic book series himself and distributed it through the independent comics market for over a decade before Scholastic approached him about a color edition. He drew every page himself, with no assistants, over the entire thirteen-year run. The series was inspired by Walt Kelly's Pogo, Carl Barks's Uncle Scrooge, and Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, a combination that sounds impossible but works perfectly in practice.

Parent Note

The series starts light but develops into a genuine epic with battle violence, menacing villains, and themes of sacrifice. The rat creatures are played for comedy early on but become legitimately threatening later. The full series is long and the later volumes are considerably darker than the first. Early volumes suit ages 7 and up; later volumes are best for ages 10 and up.