By Gollie, they’re back! And fans of this easy reader series—the first won the 2011 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award—will be thrilled to reunite with the droll duo of wild-haired Bink and skinny but solemn Gollie in Bink and Gollie, Two for One.
In three slim but well-paced chapters, BFFs Bink and Gollie visit the state fair and are greeted with an array of equally tantalizing festivities, including the Whack-a-Duck game, an amateur talent show and a psychic fortune teller booth.
In the first, Bink—much to Gollie’s dismay—takes on a Don Knotts-lookalike carnie as she buoyantly tries to win the “world’s largest donut.” Down, but not out, they contemplate the talent show, amid the pickle jugglers and opera-singing cats.
While neither endeavor ends successfully, the two stick together, soon entering the tent of a fortune teller—who tells Bink exactly what she wants to hear. The prognosticator’s special is “two for one,” and that’s just what readers get with these friends—two distinctly different and charmingly audacious buddies.
While the playful, dry and easy-to-read dialogue by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee perfectly fits the characters, Tony Fucile’s dramatic imagery of the girls brings them to life. The wordless spreads are especially effective in conveying emotion, such as Bink’s excitement or Gollie’s trepidation.
These short, funny and tender-hearted tales peer even deeper into the life of two unlikely friends. Let’s hope the trio of DiCamillo, McGhee and Fucile team up yet again to see what mischief they—and Bink and Gollie—can get into!
