Sparked Spark Notes

OLD SCHOOL BOOK REPORT!
BONE! The Great Cow Race
Jeff Smith

This book is about the more recently famed graphic novel character, “BONE”, in yet another of his crazy adventures. As the sequel to his first novel, BONE the great cow race rejoins the Bone cousins as they are trying to return to their hometown Boneville. As it begins Bone and his infamous cousins are planning to return home after their visit to Thorn and Gran’ma Ben in Barrelhaven. But before they hit the road, Fone Bone- one of Bone’s more troublesome cousins- shakes things up in one last attempt at getting rich quick scheme in the town’s annual Great Cow Race. As predicted, his plans don’t seem to work out as well as expected. Throughout the novel Foney’s plans seem to spiral more and more out of control, making their return home more of a dream than ever. At the end it indicates the continuation in a third book… but I won’t ruin it, you’ll have to actually read it to find out.

The Main Characters are:
Bone- The Main character, the protagonist is the logical of the three cousins. He is always trying to fix and help those and the things around him. He is easily likable, and is easily made jealous.
Fone Bone- He is the conniving one of the 3 cousins. He is always working new plans to get rich or get through something the easy. His plans usually fail, creating more drama than the plan was whorth.
Smiley Bone- He is the somewhat happy going, fun, clueless sidekick to Fone Bone. He helps Fone with all of his crazy schemes, because he is completely unaware that of what Fone is actually up to.
Thorn- A human girl who bone met in Barrelhaven with Gran’ma, he fell in love with her.
Gran’ma- The one who bone is staying with, winner of previous cow races, and friend to nearly everyone in town.
The Main theme could be several different things depending on how it is interpreted. One of the main themes however could have been the consequences of Scheming. Throughout the whole novel the story and plot is played around Fone’s scheme to rig the cow race. This theme is important because it is showing how lying and scheming to get through life the easy way isn’t always the best. Fone tries to get rich quick, and all it gets him is a few bruises, anger and a whole lot of punishment. His scheme doesn’t even work. So the theme of the consequences of scheming is really a main point of the novel. The main conflict was the great cow race and who would win. The conflict between Fone rigging the race and fixing the whole town to make money off of them was extremely important. My favorite part of this novel was when it showed the hairy beastie things in the great cow race. They were really weird creatures and were sort of funny. You should only read this book if you like randomness. If you’re into dark, intense, action-based, superhero type books… this is not your book. But if you’re up for some lighthearted random comical entertainment, give this book a try.

Setting And Time

The Graphic novel that i have been reading, BONE AND THE GREAT COW RACE does not take place in the present. You can easily tell this from the drawings and or illustrators displays of the characters. For one, there are no modern technologies such as cell phones, computers, or high electronic devices. You can tell not only from what the characters use but how they live and dress too. The characters that actually wear clothes don't wear clothes that would be seen today but typically in the past. The clothes almost have a Renaissance fair appearance to them. Also, the places like the restaurant and their home similarly have an old english of Renaissance fair feeling to them. They are not fancy, very wood and dirt based. No plastics, glass, or modern materials are illustrated in this, just materials used in the past. Through the author or illustrators use of different drawing skills and using materials that would not be used today, it is easily displays the setting/time of where and when this story takes place. 

The Wonderful World of Characters

In THE GREAT COW RACE there are several characters, but the main character (the protagonist) is Bone. Depending on the situation the antagonist varies, but the main antagonists or "villians" are the 'rat-like creatures' or Bone's cousin Fone Bone. As we have recently learned, for a character to be successful it must have strengths and weaknesses, otherwise the character becomes unlikable. Bone, the protagonist, has both his strengths and weaknesses. One of Bone's strengths is he is friendly and is well liked by basicly everyone. He helps getting people out of trouble and although he may not be a superhero those are still his strengths. His weaknesses on the other hand, could be he tries to see the best in those around him and is often blinded by his naive nature getting him into trouble. Fone Bone, his cousin the antagonist, has his strengths and weaknesses as well. His strength is his way with words, he easily gets those around him to believe what hes saying, fallow him, and trick those people in to benefiting his own selfish gain. His weakness is his partner, Smiley Bone. They are like tag team partners... but Fone obviously being the smarter one is constantly carrying around his weakness that is his relative Smiley. These characters are not human, so being able to relate to their different emotions throughout the story and trying to relate to their differences that are new and unsual to the reader is what draws you to the characters in the first place. The emotions of love, jealousy, greed, and envy are all emotions that are easily relatable emotions that are written or illustrated throughout the graphic novel THE GREAT COW RACE.

The Great Cow Race!

Im reading BONE and THE GREAT COW RACE. This graphic novel is very easy to read, because it is one which follows the rule of thirds. Because the book strictly follows the rule of thirds, and has maybe one or two layouts that are not planned according to the rule of thirds... it is a great example of a graphic novel. The drawing style in this book is also somewhat basic. It is not as detailed and advances as some of the darker comics such as The Justice League or Watchmen, but is just detailed enough to intrest the reader. The colors are not dark or too bright, the vary depending on the scene it is depicting.

Comic History

The History and Eras of Comics have been classified throughout the years by different ages. Starting as early as the 30's with the Golden Age, to present day comics in the Modern Age.

When Comics were first published, around the time of the late 1930's to the late 1940's, they grew to become very popular. These years of Comic History are considered to be the "Golden Age". During the Golden Age was when the first typical superhero was created and defined. They were the years when the classic and famous superheroes such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Captain America emersed. Comic books became a main form of art and entertainment. The "Golden Age" of Comics was inportant to their status today.

Immediately fallowing the "Golden Age" from the 50's to the 70's is considered to be the "Silver Age" of comics. The superhero comic's popularity began to decline, so this time is a revival of the superhero comics. It was a "major commercial peak of the comic industry." During this time was when comics such as the Fantastic Four were created.

The eras of comics did not end there, after the silver age came (of course) the "Bronze Age". From the 1970's to the 80's there was again a continuation of the superhero elements, but it instead focused on a more machure and real world theme/story line. "Bronze Age" comics are considered to be ones such as "X-men" or "Teen Titans".

Finally, from the mid 1980's to present day comics are known as the "Modern Age" comics. During this Era the comics became more complex, darker, and more serious. This is the time period where comics such as Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, or Watchmen emergerd.

Starting from when the first comics were published until present day comics have had an interesting evolving history. Starting of in the "Golden Age" and growing to become what we know as "Modern Age" comics.

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