Bone: Rose

Smith, J. (2009). Bone: Rose. New York, NY: Graphix.

Plot Summary:
The story begins with sisters Rose and Briar hearing the tale of the first dragon, a queen named Mim. Mim maintained balance of the world until the Lord of the Locusts entered her mind and made her crazy. She fought against the other dragons until they trapped her underground with the Lord of the Locusts still inside her. Briar and Rose are princesses and will someday be called to rule the land, they must develop their dreaming eye in anticipation of that day. They are taken to Old Man's Cave to finish the last of their training and prepare for their final test. Rose's dreaming eye is more developed than her older sister's and she is able to communicate with her dogs; Briar is secretly jealous of Rose. Once at the Old Man's Cave news comes that the dragon has been released from the mountain and the Lord of the Locusts along with it. Worrying that she released the dragon through her dreams, Rose tries to kill the dragon before it destroys the world. Rose soon realizes that it was Briar, through her jealousy and greed, who freed the dragon. Rose eventually is able to defeat the dragon, but must follow the wise words of the Great Red Dragon and kill the first living creature she sees after completing this task. Next to her is her betraying sister and her beloved dog, Rose must make the choice of whom to kill.

Review:
I didn't know that this was the prequel to the Bone series when I checked it out. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had already read some of the Bone books because I would have had more insight into the story. That aside, it's a great story of jealousy, betrayal, and love between siblings. Rose is a heroic young girl, gifted in the talents that will one day make her a great queen, and full of love for her sister and all other living beings. The illustrations are great, they are done in a more comic book style than most of the graphic novels I've been reading lately. The images of the river dragon are especially beautiful. I look forward to now reading the Bone series and finding what comes of Rose. It was also awesome to find out that Jeff Smith used inspiration from the caves in Hocking County where my family is from in Ohio; in this book are "Old Man's Cave" and "Conkles Hollow."

Genre:
graphic novel, fantasy

Reading Level:
Ages 9 -12

Subjects/Themes:
siblings, good versus evil

Series Information:
This is the prequel to the Bone graphic novel series.

Character Names/Descriptions:
Rose Harvestar: princess; younger sister to Briar; has a good dreaming eye; can talk to dogs
Briar Harvestar: princess; older sister to Rose; is not as gifted as Rose; is jealous of her sister; frees the Lord of the Locusts
The Great Red Dragon: advises Rose on what she must do; good dragon
Mim: first dragon; queen; is driven mad by being possessed by the Lord of the Locusts
The Lord of the Locusts: evil force that possesses Mim and forces her to disrupt the balance of the world

Annotation:
The forces of evil have been unleashed on the land, in her effort to defeat this evil force Rose discovers that those closest to her are not who they seem.