Book Review Magic Bone Rootin' Tootin' Cow Dog by Chris

Magic Bone, written by Nancy Krulik, is the journey about a dog named Sparky. He can teleport with his special magic bone.

This book starts with the Sparky’s view. He saw his neighbor, Samson, got upset because he didn’t want to give a ride his host on his back. After seeing that, Sparky talked with his neighbors, Samson and Frankie. They each said their job of their home. Samson’s job is bringing slippers to host. Frankie’s job is getting slippers and newspapers to his host. They asked to Sparky what his job is. Sparky couldn’t answer about that so he decided to find appropriate job for his host. So he had found his magic bone which he kept close and teleported to unknown place to have an adventure. He was arrived Texas and met new friends, Rex. With him, Sparky experienced lots of things in Rodeo. For example, when cowboys competed in roping and riding events, Sparky and Rex interposed. Also Sparky drove a flock of sheep. After that Rex found his aptitude. Nevertheless Sparky still didn’t sure what he is good for, the one thing he could sure is that he wanted to have fun with his host.

            If I were a young, maybe I thought this story is just for fun. But now, I read this book with some different perspective. In Korea, nowadays, there is a neologism. ‘Gold Spoon,’ it represent the people who have wealthy parents. On the other hand, there is a ‘Mud Spoon’ which represent the people who have poor parents. Also there is ‘Silver or Bronze Spoon’. This means, sad to say, the parents’ wealth is very important in modern society. In this book, Sparky is the ‘Gold Spoon.’ He doesn’t need to do any jobs, and the only thing he has to do is just playing with his host. On the other hand, his friends, Samson and Frankie are kind of ‘Silver or Bronze Spoon.’ They have their jobs at least one. Rex is absolutely the ‘Mud Spoon.’ He doesn’t have host and he have never played with host. But in rodeo, he found his aptitude and met a clown who will be his host. He succeeded in finding a job by effort. However, Sparky still didn’t find his job and he just came back to his house. And he played with his host as usual. In conclusion, I think the author’s point is that if we try to do hard to success, we might be able to success. But unfortunately, ‘Gold Spoons’ are still alive in happy.

            I think this book really reflects well about the modern society. Nevertheless this book is for young age. Maybe cruel fact, this is real in now. One thing I feel something lacking is that the author didn’t need to write this realistic story for kids. But fortunately, I don’t think kids can catch this point. The author’s metaphor is really a cutting remark. He alluded to human society by using metaphor to dogs. I have never seen like this story before even in the kids’ book. Of course, this interpretation could be superfluous. In the story, it is just as well that the wanderer dog, Rex, got a job by experiencing hard works. It can give hope to ‘Mud Spoons.’ In conclusion, we don’t have to throw our hopes away. If we keep that in mind and work hard, someday we can get chance and make dreams come true.