I love a good tale of friendship – especially with a dollop of humour.
Bink & Gollie
by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee
Candlewick Press
ISBN:
Audience: Ages 5-8 years
I am a total sucker for a friendship story – when they work and show a sense of humour rather than a sappy side. George & Martha are a prime example – sweet and funny is a great mix. Knowing this, it’s no great surprise that I found this book a lot of fun.
Bink & Gollie are something of an odd couple – yet best friends. They are in fact so close that they drive each other crazy sometimes with their differences – they are almost more like siblings than friends that way. Not only are they physical opposites, but Bink’s wild enthusiasm plays foil to Gollie’s greater reserve and sophistication (I love her pointedly erudite speech). While their relationship over this trio of stories does have its ups and downs, they are clearly friends through thick and thin, and the book ends on a sweet note.
While the writing is expectedly good, this book also relies on a strong graphic element to really make it work, and Tony Fucile’s wonderful cartoonish style is great for this. He does terrific faces, and imbues the characters and their surroundings with plenty of personality, making the whole thing all the funnier and marrying perfectly with the text. On the whole, this one is good fun and good friends – and really, who could ask for anything more?