Early Reader Review

Bink and Gollie
Written by Kate DiCamillo and Allison McGhee
Illustrated by Tony Fucile
Age Range: 6-9

Published 2010 by Candlewick Press

ISBN:978-0763659547

MSRP: $15.99

Awards:
Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books of the Year (2010)
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award (2011)

Friendship is a common theme in children’s books. Frog and Toad, George and Martha, Elephant and Piggie: the list goes on. So when I first picked up Bink & Gollie, written by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee and illustrated by Tony Fucile, there was a part of me that wondered why such an acclaimed author as DiCamillo felt the urge to journey down such well-trod ground. Surely she couldn’t reinvent the wheel; why not give us another Newbery winner instead? (Of course she did this anyway just a couple of years later, with Flora & Ulysses.)

I am so pleased to admit that my negative judgments were completely unwarranted. Bink and Gollie are the sweetest, most delightful odd couple to come through children’s literature in quite a while. They have no back story and their relationship is never explained – the reader opens the book to a fully-realized friendship between the effervescent, impulsive Bink and the more even-keeled, deliberate Gollie. Each girl seems to live alone, despite the fact that they are children: Bink in a homey cottage at the base of a giant tree and Gollie in a sleek modernist pad at the tree’s top. The book comprises three separate stories, each of which is a testament to the deep regard the two have for each other. Tony Fucile’s illustrations are darling, and his method of making Bink and Gollie bright spots of color in an otherwise monochromatic world further highlights their close bond.

The story is told only in pictures and dialogue – no descriptive text. The dialogue is skillfully written to reflect the differences in the girls’ personalities: Gollie says things like, “I must inform you that you are giving a home to a truly unremarkable fish”, and tells Bink to use her “gray matter” when she feels her friend is being daft. Bink’s speech is a lot more casual and illustrates her more carefree attitude. The writing is very tight. In fewer words than are in this post, DiCamillo and McGhee create vignettes that are highly entertaining, yet tap into some pretty deep emotions between the two girls as well.

The content is appropriate for all ages, and both readers and nonreaders will enjoy this book. The language is not too difficult for beginning readers and the dialogue between Bink and Gollie is perfect for a two-person read-aloud session. In the past I have taken one of the roles and let a child have the other, with great success. Bink and Gollie are a great pair, and fortunately there is more where this book came from. DiCamillo, McGhee and Fucile released Bink & Gollie: Two for One in 2013 and Bink & Gollie: Friends Forever in 2014. 

Readalikes:
Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same! by Grace Lin
Rabbit and Robot: The Sleepover by Cece Bell
Lulu and the Brontosaurus by Judith Viorst

Nonfiction Book Review

Kid Presidents: True Tales of Childhood from America's Presidents
Written by David Stabler
Illustrated by Doogie Horner
Age Range: 9-12

Published 2014 by Quirk Productions Inc.
ISBN: 978-1-59474-731-1
MSRP: $13.95

“This is Kid Presidents, the book that proves any kid can grow up to be president. Because every U.S. president started out as a regular kid. Just like you.”

Thus begins Kid Presidents, an amusing addition to the vast canon of children’s books about the U.S. presidents. The cartoons on the cover suggest that this is not a normal informational text, though; as does the fact that it was published by Quirk, best known as the company that brought us Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Christopher Walken A to Z.

And, in fact, it isn’t a normal book about the presidents of the United States. Kid Presidents recounts stories of the Leaders of the Free World before they were the Leaders of the Free World. From Theodore “Teedie” Roosevelt’s homegrown natural history museum to Dick Nixon’s disastrous turn as Aeneas in the high school play, Kid Presidents entertainingly recounts instances from the presidents’ early years, and finds in many of them the traits that served the boys well in the Oval Office.

The format of Kid Presidents is ideal for kids who are used to reading about Captain Underpants and the Wimpy kid. The colorful cartoons on the cover continue throughout the book, and the writing style is casual and approachable. By presenting the presidents as normal kids who face normal kid issues, the book goes a long way in humanizing them and sparking interest in learning more about their later lives.

Kid Presidents is massively entertaining, and a great choice for either parent or child to read out loud before bed. The chapters are short, and readers can skip around with no problem. The book’s biggest weakness – and it is one that only adults will likely take umbrage with – is that there are no references or footnotes, nor is there any ancillary content explaining where author David Stabler got his stories. In fact, there is nothing in Kid Presidents to suggest that any of its content is based in reality at all. As a reader one wants to accept the authenticity of the stories, but the book does not give any documentation whatsoever.

While Kid Presidents does advertise itself as a collection of “true tales” and while it is cataloged in the 973s at my library, it should definitely be used more for entertainment purposes than for research. It won’t be winning the Sibert Award any time soon. That being said, it greatly succeeds in being entertaining, and might just be the perfect vehicle to inspire its young readers to seek out further information about some of the rapscallions presented in its pages.

Readalikes:
Guys Read: True Stories edited by Jon Scieszka
A Woman in the House (and Senate) by Ilene Cooper
George vs. George: The American Revolution as Seen from Both Sides by Rosalyn Schanzer
Famous Phonies: Legends, Fakes and Frauds who Changed History by Brianna DuMont
Where Do Presidents Come From? And Other Presidential Stuff of Super Great Importance by Michael Townsend