One Hundred Bones

Reviewed by: Mary Peverada - Portland Public Library, Portland, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: August 30, 2016

Review

Scruff loves to dig - and he does it all of the time. But unlike the other dogs - he didn't have a color, never got brushed and had no human to care for him. Because everyone gets after him about his digging - he takes off for the countryside and digs to his heart's content. There he makes a huge find BONES - too many to dig up alone. He gets the help of his non-digging friends by mentioning "bones" - and they dig up 100 bones. Of course the bones are the skeleton of a dinosaur - the dogs bring the bones to the Natural History Museum where they soon are the basis of a new display "the most ferocious dinosaur ever found." All ends happily as Scruff now has a human (the professor at the museum!) and can still go off on big digs. The illustrations show the very expressive dogs - humans are only legs. There are clues that the story takes place in London in the illustrations - lion, double-decker bus, Natural History Museum, the Queen and her corgis (or dorgis)- but most of that will be lost on the young readers. But it doesn't matter as they will care most about Scruff.

Overall Book Score: good