The Great Cow Race is a graphic novel, the second book of a 7-book series called Bone. At the end of the first book, the rat creatures attacked Grandma's house, but she fought them back and everyone was safe. Also, the reader learns that for some mysterious reason, the rat creatures and their two leaders want Phoney Bone, because he would fulfill a prophecy. In this book, since the house was ruined, they were temporarily staying in Deren Gard, the local town. There was a Spring Fair happening where people from all over the valley came to Deren Gard to sell things. There was a cow race event during this, in which Grandma always raced because she was really fast, even faster than all the cows. Phoney Bone devised a plan to earn money off of the race by telling people wrong things about Grandma so no one would bet on her, even though she was most likely going to win. Meanwhile, Thorn has been having some weird dreams about something that happened in the war long ago. Finally, the day of the cow race came. While the cows were racing, a large group of rat creatures nearby were awoken, and charged into the cows. There was complete chaos as the rat creatures and cows stampeded toward the finish line, and everyone watching the race also fell into disarray. Will the rat creatures capture Phoney Bone and get back to their evil doings, or will the day be saved?
I really liked this book! Just like the last one, there were many funny parts, especially when Smiley was around, because he is a really amusing character. In this book, the plot builds more as we learn about Thorn's dreams and their truth. There were multiple scenes happening at once, keeping the storyline going and never making it boring. Because of all this, I give this book a five out of five.