Friday, December 18, 2015

Review Bone # 9: Crown of Horns



The Bone series does not disappoint with its grand finale, "Crown of Horns"!

Quick Overview:

Bone # 8 Treasure Hunters leaves us on a cliff-hanger, with Gran'ma Ben watching Briar's approaching army and realizing she has not yet managed to rally the city's troops. Problems with the city's interim leader, Tarsil, are removed immediately as Briar coldheartedly chops him in half when she arrives at the city gate. It is now up to Gran'ma Ben to pull the rest of the soldiers together and defend what she can. In the meantime, Thorn has a vision of her mother telling her to "seek the crown of horns." Thorn, Fone Bone, and Bartleby leave the fighting to find the crown that will save all of their lives. Meanwhile, Mim--ancient "creator" dragon gone crazy--has woken up from her sleep and is threatening to annihilate everyone.

Phoney Bone takes a change of heart and actually fights in the battle, and then helps Gran'ma Ben confront Briar. Lucius comes in with his army to aid them, just in time, but as Thorn and Fone Bone touch the crown of horns, Briar erupts in a ball of light and Lucius, who is grappling her, dies as well.

Finally, the red dragon comes to save Thorn and Fone Bone from the other dragons' anger for trespassing in their territory. The dragons end up chasing them all the way to Mim, who is just rising out of the ground. At the same moment, the dragons decided to face Mim (who is massive) each grabbing a piece of her and dragging her back into the earth. The war is over. Thorn reigns as queen and the bones return to Boneville.


Graphics

The story is fast-paced with scenes weaving in and out of each other raising the sense of tension and suspense. The graphics are the best yet, with the scene of thousands of dragons dragging Mim back into the earth evoking horror, shock, and fascination.


Maturity

-The reality of physical suffering and physical loss are shown in a temperate way with Fone and Thorn both losing a tooth. The tooth is replaced at the end by the red dragon, and is made out of the same crystal that the crown of horns is composed of.

-When Tarsil removes his hood, his face is hideously scarred by the dragons.

-Tarsil's body is shown being chopped in half, then the bloodstained face of Briar is seen (though I am considering now that she looks more ridiculous than frightening with her large bulbuous eyes and greenish skin).

-Smiley continues to smoke his cigar


Amusing Segments

Smiley Bone decides to cook the two mischievous rat creatures some quiche, which they love. Just as he is about to serve it to them, he gets an urgent message and leaves it just outside of their reach from the cage where they are being kept. After the war is over, Fone Bone serves them some quiche on "Christmas" day.


Points to Ponder

At the end, the characters celebrate winter solstice, which is basically depicted as a secular Christmas party. Thorn brings in an evergreen that she explains brings life in the dead of winter. Smiley asks Phoney if they celebrate winter solstice in Boneville. Phoney answers they do, but for different reasons: "Different reasons... Different names... It all comes down to th' same thing... business picks up, an' I make  a lotta money! I love this holiday!" (emphasis from text). Thorn brings out some instruments and Smiley says, "As long as we're gonna make music, it don't matter to me if we celebrate for different reasons!"

Later, when Fone Bone takes out the quiche to the two silly rat creatures, he tells them "Peace on earth, fellas!"


Conclusion

Great series, definitely one that I would recommend, even for adults.

Overall maturity: 9 and up.








Thursday, December 17, 2015

Review : Mother Nature Takes a Vacation



I just came across this book in my library and was struck by the beautiful illustrations by Sylvie Daigneault. It also struck me as a timely fairy tale--and a Canadian one too.

Quick Synopsis:

Mother Nature leaves the "kingdom" because they do not take care of her, ie. pollute, ruin soil, and put garbage in oceans. A clever girl named Sue takes the situation into hand and tries to take over for Mother Nature while she is gone. She cannot do everything, so she asks the king permission to go search for Mother Nature. Sue finds her, but Mother Nature refuses to return until everyone has cleaned up the kingdom. Mother Nature returns and makes everyone promise to continue keeping everything clean. Everyone lives in peace and harmony.


Amusing Canadiana:

-Mother Nature escapes and goes to--Florida.

-When Mother Nature returns, she is escorted by a Canadian Goose, a rabbit, a robin, a deer, and a raccoon.


About the Author and Illustrator:

Lydia Bailey was born in Memphis, Tennessee but now lives in Toronto. Her books reflect her interest in ecology, myth, and fantasy.

Sylvie Daigneault was born in Montreal and now lives in Toronto. She is also the illustrator for Sarah Saw a Blue Macaw and Simon's Surprise. --Make sure to check out her other illustrations!

Friday, December 4, 2015

Review Bone # 7 : Treasure Hunters

























Quick Summary:

The bones, Thorn, Gran'ma, and Bartleby make it to Atheia and secretly reconnect with Gran'ma's old friends and teachers. The city has turned against the dragons and so would be hostile to the dragon princess, Thorn. Meanwhile, Phoney's scalp is tingling and he feels there must be treasure somewhere in the city. By the end of the story, Thorn is neither revealed as princess, nor does Phoney find his treasure. The story ends with Briar's army approaching to attack Atheia and Gran'ma muttering, "We're not ready."

Points to Ponder:

Religion:

We learn in this book that the Atheian religion is based on the concept of balance. Mim, the first dragon, gives life to the world, however, she has a dark aspect, and may also be depicted as "The Lord of Death: The Lord of the Locusts." Thus she is both the creator and the destroyer. A character explains: "You cannot have life without death. The two are always together" What is needed then is balance between life and death.

The Crown of Horns is the tipping point, the point of balance.

Thorn's new mission now is to seek the Crown of Horns and to "restore balance" between life and death.

Moral dualism basically says:

Good and evil are equal to each other. This moral view does not conform to Christian, Jewish, and Muslim conceptions of God/Goodness as creator and evil as the absence of good. In these religions there is a hierarchy of life over death, good over evil. Eg. Manichaeism, a religion based on moral dualism, was declared a Christian heresy in the 4th century.

Compare the Atheian religion with:

Ancient Egyptian Religious Beliefs: the gods Set (disorder, death) and Osiris (order, life) (Wikipedia). This duality compares to the balance of Mim, giver of life, and the Lord of the Locusts, representative of death.

Zoroastrianism (mid-fifth century BC): a monotheistic religion that believes that Ahura Mazda is the eternal creator of all good things. Any violations of Ahura Mazda's order arise from druj, which is everything uncreated. From this comes a significant choice for humans to make. Either they fully participate in human life for Ahura Mazda or they do not and give druj power (Wikipedia). The ghost circles that declare the presence of the locust are also represented as "voids"--or, one could say, "the uncreated" as in Zoroastrian myth. Recall Rock Jaw telling the bones that they must choose sides in the war, between life and death. Some have gone on to accept the locust as leader, and this gives the locust power.

Taoism (yin and yang) Compare the yin and yang concept of a dot in the yin and a dot in the yang with Thorn having a "piece of the locust" within her.



Great Moments in the story:

Interactions between Smiley and Bartleby:

Bartleby: What did you bring me?
Smiley: I brought some of our dinner from last night. It's stinky and gross--just the way you like it! You know, Bartleby, I never had a pal like you before.
Bartleby (as he looks up at Smiley with green goop falling from his mouth): Me either!

Great Female characters with character who plan together to protect the city from war and corruption:

Thorn: Gran'ma, we don't have an army.
Gran'ma: Not yet.
Thorn: Are you sure this is a good plan, then?
Gran'ma: No... It only deals with the problems we have outside the walls... ....inside, we still have Tarsil the Usurper to deal with.

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Review Bone # 7 Ghost Circles



























Ghost Circle: Like invisible bubbles, these spaces are part of the void or nightmarish evil that was released in the world by the partial awakening of the locust. The bubbles spot the regular landscape and form spaces of destruction, and if someone were to enter into them, they would die.

Quick Summary: The story splits into two again, one part following the villagers and the stick-eaters as they head to war, the second following the bones, Thorn, Gran'ma and Bartleby, the pet rat creature who has returned to the group. There are scenes of war and destruction as the villagers face the rat creatures in battle. The entire valley is destroyed as the locust is semi-released from its lair in a volcano that spews ash and covers everything living. The Bone contingent decides to follow a treacherous path through ghost circles to arrive at the ancient kingdom of Atheia. The villagers convince the stick-eaters to leave Old Man's Cave and to travel to Atheia as well, their only chance of survival.

Thoughts: This was an excellent, exciting read. I especially enjoyed how the story took off from its original plot in a convincing way. Their travel to Atheia is unexpected and exciting. The passage through the ghost circles is intriguing and imaginative. We receive more of the back story about Lucius and his relation to the royal sisters, which adds a romantic twist. It's incredible to see the development of even tertiary characters like Jonathon, whose name dons the first chapter title.

For Younger Children:
The images of this story continue to be for mature readers 9+, according to parental discretion.

Images to note:
Briar "rises" again from the dead, as the locusts cover her two halves and allow her to stand upright again.

Ideas to ponder or discuss:

Thorn and Bone have a part of the locust inside them, and this allows them to pass unharmed into ghost circles. They pass into one and are met with voices. These are coming from a family who are not alive, but are changed by the ghost circle. Fone worries that they have turned into zombies, but this is not clear. The voices ask them for help, claim they feel pain, and say they have a message for Thorn from her dead mother, telling her to "seek the crown of horns." They warn of danger approaching, and tell Thorn to remove the piece of locust from Fone.

Great Quote:

"Great darkness falls across our generation. May we be equal to the burden."


Review: Bone # 6 Old Man's Cave

Bone #6: Old Man's Cave


Quick summary: 

In Bone #6 Old Man's Cave, we seem to reach the climax of the story, but discover the end is only the beginning of a new twist in the plot. Thorn, Smiley and Fone Bone rejoin Gran'ma Ben in Old Man's Cave. Old Man's Cave has become a refuge for stick-eaters, the villagers, and Phoncible P. Bone. Rock Jaw is on a hunt to bring the bone creatures and Thorn (dead or alive) to the altar of the Hooded One for a sacrifice and so free the Lord of the Locusts. Phoney is captured and placed on the altar of sacrifice, but is saved just in time by Gran'ma Ben. We discover why the hooded one was chasing Phoney, and we discover that the "hooded one" is in fact Gran'ma Ben's sister, Briar, who died in the old war. She is being kept alive by the locusts.

Forewarning:

Younger children may be disturbed by certain gruesome images: Rock Jaw has previously pulled out Kingdok's tongue and one image shows the cats holding it down beneath his paw; when Briar pulls off her hood, she is shown with bulging eyes and green skin; the locusts escape from Briar via her mouth and stomach; and we see the top part of Briar's body disengaged from her legs, though there is no blood.

Commentary:

This book was entertaining like the other books have been, though the plot was not as tightly laid out as Bone # 5 Rock Jaw.