Born and raised in the American mid-west, Jeff Smith learned about cartooning from comic strips, comic books, and watching animation on TV. After four years of drawing comic strips for Ohio State's student newspaper, Smith co-founded the Character Builders animation studio in 1986. In 1991, he launched a company called Cartoon Books to publish his comic book BONE, a comedy/adventure about three lost cousins from Boneville.
Jeff Smith's work is published in thirteen languages and has won the highest awards in Germany, France, Italy, and at home. Between BONE and other comics projects, Smith spends much of his time on the international guest circuit promoting comics and the art of graphic novels.
After being run out of Boneville, the three Bone cousins—Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone—are separated and lost in a vast, uncharted desert. One by one, they find their way into a deep, forested valley filled with wonderful and terrifying creatures.
Eventually, the cousins are reunited at a farmstead run by tough Gran’ma Ben and her spirited granddaughter, Thorn. But little do the Bones know, there are dark forces conspiring against them and their adventures are only just beginning!
Fone Bone and his cousins plan to return home after visiting the village of Barrelhaven with Thorn and Gran’ma Ben. But Phoney Bone risks everything on one last get-rich-quick scheme for the town’s annual Great Cow Race. As usual, Phoney’s plans go disastrously awry, and Boneville seems farther away than ever.
Meanwhile, ominous signs indicate that a war is brewing, and Fone Bone finds himself helping his friends defend their idyllic valley from a formidable enemy.
After being run out of Boneville, the three Bone cousins—Fone Bone, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone—begin their epic adventure through a strange land. In this third book in the series, life in the valley isn’t getting any easier for the Bones and their newfound friends. Lucius, Smiley and Phoney are attacked by the Rat Creatures and barely make it back to Lucius’s tavern. It doesn’t take long before Phoney is back to his old tricks. Over at the farm, Fone Bone and Thorn are troubled by strange dreams, and Gran’ma Ben’s reaction to them is even stranger, as she reveals long-kept secrets and unexpected dangers. Thorn, Fone Bone and Gran’ma Ben might have to leave the farm forever!
