Bink and Gollie: Best Friends Forever
Written by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee
Illustrated by Tony Fucile
Friendship trumps all. You may be tall and trying to prove your royal antecedents, or short and working to make yourself taller. There may come a hiccup or two in life, but Bink and Gollie remain BFFs.
The book contains three short stories, simply told, but not simple. The theme of this book, part of a series, is acceptance. ‘Queen Gollie’ finds Bink’s door shut to her, but Gollie is warmly welcomed. Bink’s Stretch-O-Matic just stretches Gollie’s credulity. The ending is classic: Bink and Gollie stretched out on a rug looking at the contraption.
“It makes me feel taller just to look at it,” said Bink.
“Art can have that affect,” said Gollie.
And the art that accompanies the text, deepens and enriches the stories. In the best picture books, the illustration shows a dog with an attitude or a quirk that the words don’t describe. Tony Fucile is an artist whose drawings gently nudge the story into the stratosphere, the illustrator who, you pray silently, would agree to illustrate your books. Such thought and planning has gone into the drawings. First graders will find many details: the telescope on Gollie’s balcony, the sit-out bench situated on another branch, Bink’s Bink-sized mailbox. The picture in Bink’s living room is a portrait of the inventor of peanut butter! Sly humor abounds. “Excessive assembly required” say the instructions on the Acme Stretch-O-Matic.
What a wonderful read aloud of a book for the very youngest set. The expressions tell the story, even to those who can’t read yet. “Alrighty then” may soon become a frequently heard phrase. And this is not all. The publisher has a teacher’s guide, http://www.candlewick.com/book_files/076363266x.btg.1.pdf, to facilitate discussions and reading activities.
Title: Bink and Gollie: Best Friends Forever- Author: Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee
- Illustrator: Tony Fucile
- Publisher: Candlewick Press, 2013
- Reviewer: Anjali Amit
- Format: Hardcover, 96 pages
- ISBN: 978-0-7636-3497-1
- Genre: Contemporary
- Lexile Score: 290
