The three Bones and their newfound friends (an odd assortment of humans, bugs and dragons) continue to develop their story in The Great Cow Race, the second collected volume of Jeff Smith's Complete Bone Adventures.

This book centers, as its title suggests, on a cow race, one of the big social occasions of the year in this remote valley. The cows have stiff competition in the person of Gran'ma Ben, the only non-bovine contestant and the usual winner of the annual event. But two of the Bones have an idea how to fix the race and bilk the naive valley folk of their hard-earned produce and livestock....

Smith's stories are funny, but there's an undercurrent of serious drama that will continue to build as the series evolves. There's more to Vol. 2 than just the race, certainly; there's a lothario honey merchant, a very tough bee, a recurring nightmare, a mysterious map, roof repairs and a love poem in the making. There are also more of those stupid, stupid rat creatures, who provide the dramatic tension (of a sort), as well as a lot of chuckles along the way. The race itself, which ends with a lot more competitors than it started with, is a hoot.

- Rambles
written by Tom Knapp
published 19 July 2003