Bink and Gollie couldn't be more different, but they also couldn't be better friends. Bink & Gollie is broken in to three short stories - each teaching a different lesson to readers, including patience, compromise, imagination, jealousy and friendship. The illustrations are done by an award winning artist and animator, Tony Fucile. The ink drawings keep the focus on the characters by having them in color, while the background and other details are black and white. Little readers will be drawn to the bold font, as it often changes sizes, location, and sometimes direction! One or two sentences per page, and great words for beginning readers, make this a great practice book for your child to develop word recognition and sounding out skills.
The moral of each short story is presented through humor, making it more fun and perhaps even resonate better with your child. For example, Gollie refuses to make Bink her pancakes until Bink removes her socks that Gollie does not like. They try for a short while to out-stubborn one another, but once they both realize playing (or eating pancakes) alone is not nearly as much fun as with your friend, they reach a compromise; Gollie shares half her pancakes, and Bink removes one sock. See how your child reacts to the stories. If they are not volunteering commentary, you can prompt them with questions like "Do you know anyone like Gollie or Bink? Which one do you think you are more like?" The characters' facial expressions also add to the humor. Your child will likely comment on the expressions, or perhaps even imitate it.
My five year-old niece, Emily, was very interested in the two-page black and white sketch of a large tree house in the pages before the story began. I could actually see Emily's imagination kick in as she envisioned herself and her friends and Barbies having tea on the patio deck on top of the tree. She said, "Wow! Look at that staircase!" regarding the wooden steps that jutted out from the large tree trunk, spiraling up. "I could do so much with that tree house, Auntie!" I laughed at what a little adult she sounded like, until she added, "Like paint it pink!
--Audra