THE BONE WAR

In this illustrated children’s book, a rescue dog sees his perfect new life disturbed when a second pooch is adopted into the family.

Tucker, who looks like an orange-brown cross between a Shar Pei and a Labrador, lives in a foster home for dogs. Though not small, he is dwarfed by his fellow canines. He is always last in line for food, ever denied the after-dinner bone treats. Tucker’s life changes for the better when he is adopted. Suddenly, he is the center of attention. But then his new owners adopt a second dog, the tiny Chihuahua Zoey. What follows is a mishap-laden back-and-forth battle as Tucker tries to protect a bone—the symbol of his happy, new circumstances—from the big-eared, bean-thin interloper. Though Tucker wins, he changes his mind about Zoey when told her history: As the runt of a large litter, she “had no one who cared.” Tucker decides to share and to become Zoey’s protective foster brother: “Gazing up at his people, Tucker saw their proud smiles. / Now the bone war seemed silly and hardly worthwhile. / Zoey was not an intruder but a sibling instead, / Who quickly decided. . .to steal Tucker’s bed!” The conclusion leads neatly into the second Tucker and Zoey volume, The Bed War (2019). Bensing tells a sweet, affecting, and entertaining tale (reminiscent of Al Perkins’ classic beginner book, The Digging-est Dog, 1967). Unfortunately, the unwieldy verse that favors end rhymes at the expense of rhythmic meter and the occasional text-heavy pages do detract a little from the zesty goings-on. Feather’s full-color illustrations skillfully bestow Tucker and Zoey with cartoonish, larger-than-life personalities. But much of the action takes place against blank or minimally sketched, papyrus-textured backdrops. For all the fun and frolicking, younger readers may wish for a splash more color and detail.

An enjoyable, big-hearted story of found-family sibling rivalry.