Review of _Tall Tales_ (Bone)

If I told you I wanted to share with you reflections on a story called "Big Johnson Bone vs. The Cobbler Gobbler," would you think my thoughts would be safe for work?

Despite the adulterated interpretation that particular short story might inspire, the latest installment of Jeff Smith's Bone series, Tall Tales, crafted with help from Tom Sniegoski, retains the core texts' jovial spirit and enjoyable readability. Sure, there are obligatory gas gags and over-inflated rhetoric, but that's all part of the fun.

The first story in Tall Tales is a framing device. Smiley and Bartelby the baby rat creature are now leaders of young Bone scouts rather than comic relief, and as they lead three scouts into the woods, they begin the series of tall tales. The first is very short and features Fone and Phoney acting true to form as they consider doing or not doing their laundry at Rose's request. Save for a few pages of frame narrative sprinkled about, the rest of the stories revolve around Big Johnson Bone, a larger-than-life Daniel Boone character with a stiff lower jaw and a legendary aire. And a funny name.

The first of the Johnson Bone tales is that of his birth, when, right from the womb, he whipped old man winter and brought the world spring. The second is a story of his young adulthood, when he falls in love with the rootin-tootin' Gertie while trying to defend his crown as the top food eater in all the land. Gertie's claim to fame is her ability to put away cobbler "as well as other food-type items," and Big John, as he is called in this short, mercifully, is impressed.

Alas, once John helps her win the eating contest by a smidge, the gas she passes is time the last the two ever see one another.

As someone who has recently defended Bone from censorship cases, the innuendo -- or possible innuendo -- here bothered me. I felt as though Sniegoski and Smith were trying to egg on those who claim that the other Bone books are more sexual and incendiary than they seem to be to most readers. True, one might say the perversion is in the mind of the reader, but if one wants to keep his texts considered kid-friendly and all-ages reading, I don't know why one would plant such obvious seeds.

The final story adds to the mythos of Big Johnson Bone and the stupid, stupid rat creatures, offering development on the legend of why rat creatures cut off their tales. It's the longest of the three and the biggest romp. The funnest too, if not because of the uncomfortable nuance of "The Cobbler Gobbler," a nuance that younger readers might not even consider, of course, making the text, generally speaking, a good one for most readers, just like the rest of the Bone books.

Tale Tales also features Smith's trademark tenderness and charm along with its adventure and bombast. Despite a bit of authorial trickstering I could have done without, Sniegoski and Smith add to the Bone saga admirably.