In the first volume, the heros are all drawn to Tom Elm, the young leader of their motley crew, who is tasked with the job of finding the spark that will save the Dreaming. The heros have to overcome their differences and work together to save their world, while escaping the servants of the Natch who will stop at nothing to destroy them.

The illustrations were spectacular, Jeff Smith is extremely talented. I absolutely loved the images that were scattered through the story.

The story was a little slow, especially in the beginning, and it took a little while for me to become invested in the plot, but towards the middle I found myself hooked.
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This is the first book in the Quest for the Spark trilogy. This is a chapter book with some pictures that picks up some time after the events in Jeff Smith’s Bone graphic novel series. I enjoyed it and loved revisiting some of the characters from the Bone series.

Tom is a twelve year old turnip farmer who is suddenly plagued by bad dreams after he finds a strange rock. He ends up discovering that it is up to him to assemble an unlikely group of heroes and go on a quest to recover the light-giving spark. In his dreams Tom sees that The Nacht (a horrible empty darkness) is trying to penetrate through to the waking world. It is up to Tom and our other heroes to find the Spark and stop the Nacht.

This was a fun adventure fantasy. I enjoyed all the quirky characters and liked some of the full color pictures throughout. The book is put together in a very nice way with lots of color and very nice heavy paper. The idea of the Nacht reminds a lot of the Nothing from the movie the Neverending Story; it’s a very similar premise.

The story is pretty predictable but still an engaging read. You switch between the different POVs of all of our heroes as you read the story. This worked very well for this story and gave us a good chance to get to know our heroes.

Thorn is in the story a very small bit, as is Grandma Ben. The majority of the other character are new to the series...or are characters that were mentioned in passing in the original Bone series.

Overall this was a fun extension of the Bone graphic novel series. Although I didn’t like this book quite as much as the original Bone series I still really enjoyed it. It’s fun to revisit this world and I love the adventures that Tom and crew go on. I will definitely be continuing this series. I would recommend to fans of middle grade fantasy adventure and, of course, fans of the original Bone series. ( )

A brand-new return to the world of Bone . . . but this time in chapter book format, illustrated by Jeff Smith. Mostly new characters and a quest theme = good fun and adventure. Z actually clapped when we finished it tonight, with a thumbs up right after. Now, it's on to amazon to find out when book #2 is released. ( )

Bone: Quest for the Spark, Book 1 is a great followup to the Bone series. Thorn is queen and there has been peace in the Valley since the events of Bone. However, that is until people in the village start falling asleep and never waking up, including Queen Thorn.

Enter 12-year-old Tom Elm, turnip farmer. There isn't much about Tom that is extraordinary, except for his belief that he is destined for something greater. The destiny becomes apparent when the Dreaming chooses Tom to be their champion against the Nacht, the evil that is corrupting the Waking World. Tom it directed by the Dreaming to bring together a band of heroes to help him in defeating the Nacht.

Book 1 of Quest for the Spark is your general introductory trilogy book; we meet the main cast of characters, both good and bad, and are introduced to the danger at hand. Not much else happens here, but it is a great addition to the Bone mythology. It's different from previous Bone stories in that it is a prose story, but it it illustrated in full color throughout by Jeff Smith (the creator of Bone) and the illustrations are fantastic. I've always been a fan of Jeff Smith's artistic style; it's very simplistic and minimal but he packs quite a bit of emotion into each art panel. I prefer to see his artwork in black and white (as it was originally presented) but the colored version of these illustrations are still gorgeous. Tom Sniegoski does a great job in keeping the light and whimsical yet serious and epic feel of Smith's writing from the original series. Overall, a great book and I can't wait for the next volume! ( )

Jake's Review: Mom this is awesome, I really like the new story. I miss hearing about the other Bone guys, but these new characters are interesting too. I really didn't like the dead rat (that's my boy) but everything else was pretty cool. Some of it was a little scary for me though and I wished there were more pictures, like in the original series. I can't wait to read the rest of the series -- when are they coming out -- what do you mean you don't know -- some Librarian you are (mom's note: no I did not slap him upside the head after that comment, but I thought about it). Some of the story was really funny and I liked how the story put funny stuff in after the scary parts, it helped me get my mind off the scary stuff. The pictures are so cool, I wish there were more of them.
Jake's Rating: 9/10

Mom's Review: O.K, I would just like to start off by saying that the dead rat really grossed me out and probably resulted in me giving this the rating I did. But this book isn't written for Mom's so I should really let it go, but ewwww! This is an excellent book for reluctant readers and kids like Jake who are fantastic readers but miss having books with pictures in them. A very creative storyline and good moral lessons will also appeal to Mom's, Dad's and Librarian's. This is a delightful addiction to the Bone world with the introduction of new fun and likeable characters, while at the same time bringing back or mentioning well loved Bone characters. But I'm warning you there is icky stuff involving a a dead rat that just grossed me out and freaked out Jake a little.
Mom's Rating: 8/10

We received this from Scholastic in exchange for an honest review (which Jake thinks makes me an awesome Mom -- but shhh don't tell his friends he said that) ( )