The Bone Wars is a 1998 middle-grade Western adventure novel by Kathryn Lasky, and tells the story of Thad (an orphan from Texas) and Julian (the son of a cold and obsessive British paleontologist), two boys who are part of competing expeditions that obsessively hunt for fossils in the northern border states in the 1870s. Both Thad and Jeremy develop talents for finding bones and a passion for seeing them unearthed, but they begin to chafe at the methods and goals of the current bone hunters. They dream of digging up dinosaur skeletons for the whole world to see, a goal that eventually leads to a partnership that not all of their associates are willing to take lying down. Thad and Julian also bear witness to the U.S. government seeking to encroach on mineral-rich Native American land and the buildup to the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Tropes:
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Thad and the other dinosaur hunters travel across vast, untravelled terrain while looking for fossils and face some danger from murderous rivals and the potential of being caught in the crossfire of the Great Sioux War (although the Native Americans view the paleontologists' work as sacred and mostly leave them alone).
- Affectionate Nickname: Julian calls his friend and fellow young fossil hunter Thad "Esteemed Colleague" (E.C. for short), and by the Distant Epilogue, Thad has taken to calling Julian "Household Word Maker", referencing Julian vowing to make dinosaurs a household name by letting the world see their skeletons in museums.
- Benevolent Boss: For all of his paranoia, occasional academic dishonesty, and possessiveness of dinosaur finds, George Babcock is usually jovial and encouraging to his subordinates during his dinosaur excavations and often encourages their passions or forgives mistakes.
- Death by Childbirth: Julian’s mother didn't survive his delivery, and while no one goes as far as to treat him in a Maternal Death? Blame the Child! way, he observes that his father and the rest of the household talk about 1861 as the year his mother died more than as the year he was born.
- The Dreaded: Rap Stevens tells Thad that everyone calls him by his first name except the people who are afraid of him, immediately after which eight people call Rap "Mr. Stevens" during a short walk down the street, indicating that his skill with guns and his addiction to wild games of chance have earned him a frightening reputation.
- Drowning My Sorrows: After the death of Jim Dundee, two of his grief-stricken longtime cowhands head to the nearest saloon, and 48 hours later, one of them still hasn't sobered up or set foot outside.
- Establishing Character Moment: Algernon DeMott is introduced harshly firing a Cool Teacher who is tutoring his son after the man suggests Julian sketch the dinosaur sculptures of Waterhouse Hawkins, as Algernon consulted on those sculptors and is mad about how Hawkins consulted with a rival of his over one sculpture, leading to the sculpture having inaccuracies. This shows Algernon is highly intelligent and takes his work seriously, but is arrogant, hot-headed, comfortable demeaning anyone he sees as beneath him, and not too concerned about the feelings and welfare of his son.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Algernon is a racist who robs and sabotages his rival fossil hunters. He treats his son with cold contempt at the best of times, has him beaten for calling out Algernon’s hypocrisy, and compares Julian to a mosquito that may be annoying but isn't worth expending energy or concern over. However, in his final scene, he is horrified when Julian is in danger of being killed by a bomb that he planted to kill Thad and runs out of cover yelling for Julian to get away from the burning stick of dynamite. This one moment of acting like a real father ends up getting him killed when his less scrupulous henchman prepares to shoot Julian, and Julian impulsively throws the bomb in their direction in self-defense.
- The Gambling Addict: Thad's friend Rap Stevens has devoted his life to card games and wagers, constantly winning and losing ships or enormous sums of money. He will happily bet with himself when secrecy prevents him from betting about something with anyone else.
- Hero of Another Story: Professor Cunningham, the leader of the third expedition, only has a few scenes but comes across as an equally talented fossil hunter who has more professional ethics than Babcock and DeMott (both of whom sabotage him at times, with Cunningham retaliating against Babcock at least once), while also using his influence to try to prevent the mistreatment and exploitation of Native Americans.
- Holier Than Thou: Algernon DeMott talks about how his paleontological work is important to understanding the nature of God’s creation, and it can be hard to tell if he is The Fundamentalist or Hiding Behind Religion as he uses his history of religious scholarship to justify his narrow-minded worldview and willingness to sabotage his rivals or steal credit from his underlings.
- Police Brutality: A Mountie throws Thad in jail and gives him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown for no other reason than the fact that Thad embarrassed him by telling him that he was standing in puke after he arriving to break up a saloon fight.
- Scarily Competent Tracker: Thad has keen eyes and instincts that let him spot patterns and abnormalities from great distances. He mostly uses this to detect areas that may have fossils in them or to spot a hidden cattle rustler in an early scene, but he can also recognize Bobber Henshaw’s gait due to the tracks from his legs being different sizes.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After a telegrapher in Cheyenne transcribes a message about how the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Nations are preparing for war with the U.S. Army, he announces that he's heading back to Oregon to avoid the risk of being scalped in the ensuing conflict.
- Son of a Whore: While the word "prostitute" and its synonyms are never mentioned, Thad's mother worked in a rough saloon where she would spend time with men who would give her money while having Thad stay under the bed or go to another room down the hall. She throws Thad a meager but touching birthday party every year and talks about saving enough money for a better life, a dream that never comes true before a customer strangles her when Thad is five.
- Warts and All:
- Buffalo Bill Cody is a brave and friendly Army Scout who helps set Thad up with fossil hunting, but he's also an imperfect husband and father to his family and a believer in manifest destiny who is eager to help subjugate the Native Americans.
- Famous Frontline General George Armstrong Custer is a Happily Married Friend to All Living Things, but his conduct toward the Native Americans is quite racist and unsympathetic (albeit arguably more than it was in real-life) as he tries to push them off their land.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Mr. Jim Dundee, who comforts Thad after his mother's death and teaches him about cowboying and tracking, is introduced on page 3 and dies of a stroke on page 11.
