Customer Reviews

Bink and Gollie (Junior Library Guild Selection (Candlewick Press))

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My rating is 3.5 stars.

The delightfully fun drawings of Tony Fucile are, IMHO, worthy of top billing in this short collection of three stories by popular children's authors Kate DiCamillo (The Tale of Despereaux and Because of Winn-Dixie) and Alison McGhee (Someday). I loved the black & white illustrations and the punches of color that drew the eye.

To my surprise, while I thought the writing was fine (though not stellar), I was less than enamored with the stories & the character of Gollie. The lovable Bink completely won me over, but Gollie? Not so much.

Here's why:

Story 1: Bink & Gollie go into a store where Bink buys some brightly striped socks. She loves them. Gollie does not. Later the girls "compromise" and Bink wears only one of the socks.
My thoughts: Why the heck does Bink have to stop wearing something she loves in order to ensure Gollie's friendship?
Story 2: Gollie is in her bedroom imagining a mountaineering trip and Bink is having some difficulty understanding the "Keep Out" signs on Gollie's door.
My thoughts: Wanting some time alone is understandable and I don't have any problem with it. But why was it only when Bink showed up with food that Gollie relented and let her in? Was she hungry?
Story 3: Bink buys a fish and is thrilled to death with it even though Gollie tells her it's a lousy pet. When the girls are roller skating together - along with the fish, who is in his bowl - Gollie quickly saves the fish when the bowl breaks.
My thoughts: Just how far were the girls from a house where they could have gotten a cup of water to put the fish in while they took it back home? Instead, Gollie "saves" the fish by putting it into a pond where, coincidentally, it will no longer compete with her for Bink's time. (Not to mention that, even though we see the fish beneath the ice in a drawing with the girls ice skating, in reality it probably would have died.)

Thinking I must be missing something, I gave it a second read when I was back at the bookstore a couple of days later. But my reaction was the same. Maybe I'm just being weird about these stories, interpreting them poorly or seeing things that simply aren't there. But I know the book isn't going into my collection. In addition, if I were Bink's mom, I think I'd tell her that she could do better in the best friend department.

So - 5 stars for Fucile's great artwork and for the adorable Bink (who I would love to see much more of); 2 stars for Gollie as portrayed in these pages. That averages out to 3.5 stars. I rounded up to 4 stars because of my admiration for many of DiCamillo's other stories and because my annoyance over the whole sock incident (seems minor, I know, but it just bugged me) may have colored my interpretation of Gollie's actions in the other two stories.

I picked this book up from the local library for my nephew. I loved it and so did my nephew. The pictures, the personalities of the two characters and their language, make both you and your child smile. And you think to yourself I need to look for more Bink and Gollie books. I didn't find them at the library. And now that I am searching here on Amazon, it seems there are no more. I wish there were!

Oh and I forgot to mention, next time I visited my nephew, he said "Greetings Boo E" ("Greetings" is how Bink and Gollie greet each other. Boo E is just what my nephew calls me.).

My two kids (and me) are huge Kate DiCamillo fans. For my daughter (10) it all began with The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and for my son (7) the Mercy Watson series. Bink and Gollie is just plain fun! Quirky and original which is what my kids are drawn to. My daughter is also a fan of co-author Alison McGhee and her Julia Jillian series so naturally we were excited about theit collaboration. This adorable short chapter book about two friends subtlely conveys the beauty of relationships and self-discovery that these two authors are so great at. Simple and sweet.

From the first page, when I saw the amazing treehouse that the girls live in, I wanted to move right in. Check out that fabulous deck! With a telescope!

Two best friends, each very different, star in this collection of expertly written stories. Sparing use of color lends emphasis and draws the eye throughout the highly illustrated text. Tall, well-groomed Gollie plays a sort of Felix Unger to Bink's exuberant, irrepressible Oscar as they make their way around town. Much like Nate the Great, Gollie seems to have a craving for pancakes, while Bink's stout frame could be attributed to the numerous peanut butter sandwiches she always seems to be fixing for herself. Three little mini-adventures are included in the book. The two girls go roller-skating and end up shopping at a sock bonanza, Gollie goes adventuring in the Andes (sort of) and Bink purchases a goldfish to be her marvelous companion. When Bink makes the ill-advised move of taking her goldfish Fred out roller-skating, disaster ensues. Although Gollie has never been fond of Fred, she leaps into action, saving the day by relocating Fred to a nearby pond.

I must admit, I did feel a little pang of worry about that frozen fish in the pond on the final page. Bink and Gollie seem pleased though - they're confidently skating along, smiling, perhaps secure in the knowledge that the fish will thaw out in the spring? I think a lot of really great children's literature does that though... leaves you wondering and worrying about some small detail.

Bink and Gollie is a little tough to categorize. I nearly want to put in alongside beginning reader books like James Marshall's George and Martha, or Lobel's Frog and Toad, but the difficulty of some of the vocabulary would seem to preclude that. The small trim size has me leaning against saying this is a picture book, although, if it had been in a larger format, I might not have thought twice about putting it there. What decides me? Is this a book best enjoyed read-aloud or read to oneself? Ultimately, I have to say, despite the brevity of the text, and generousness of the illustrations, this appears to be a light, refreshing sorbet of an early chapter book.

Reading BINK & GOLLIE made me smile. When I sat down to read it I didn't know what to expect. The book is a graphic novel and easy chapter book rolled into one and yet so much more. Bink & Gollie show that with compromise true friendship survives. I loved the b & w illustrations with splashes of color and the humorous text filled with luscious vocabulary. Children will want to use their gray matter for adventures of their

I thought about waiting for it to come out in paperback, but I am so glad I didn't! My niece, who is a strong first grade reader can't put this book down. It is charming, interesting and the illustrations are really quirky and fun. It's a winner.

Reason for Reading: I'm a fan of Kate DiCamillo.

An adorable book suitable for children who are reading on their own but still want pictures and may find a page full of text daunting. While not to be confused as an easy reader (for ex. "Perhaps a compromise is in order. "), this beginning 3 chapters book could easily be called a picture book as well. Each page is fabulously illustrated and contains small blocks of text which will appeal to children of a wide age range.

This book contains three episodes in the life of Bink & Gollie, roller skating "marvelous companions" who live in separate tree houses of the same tree. Bink & Gollie each have their own distinct, unique personality and that is what makes this book so much fun. The dynamics between the two, the repartee, the differences in personality and the obvious closeness as friends make these girls two very special characters in the literary world. Mr. Fucile's illustrations capture the essence of Bink & Gollie and it is the combination of writing and illustrating that makes this duo so captivating. I was taken with them right away.

The first story introduces a pair of "outrageous" socks, the second an expedition to the Andes mountains and the third the purchase of a goldfish. While each is an individual story, the theme (and importance) of the socks is carried through the book unobtrusively in the illustrations. Now that the Mercy Watson series is finished I think that fans will be very happy to turn their attentions to Bink & Gollie, the first in what I've heard (no evidence yet) will prove to be a series.

A girls' book! A girlie book! And what a cunning one! Bink and Gollie are the best of friends. Typical girls with agreements (roller-skates) and disagreements (socks, fish), who live up tree and downtree.

They love talking on the phone, sitting in front of their laptops, hanging out on the couch - most of us can identify with THAT - or plain old pretend play.

And they have a knack for language. They don't shy away from big words such as unwillingness, compromise, furthermore, outrageous, and companionship.

The illustrations by Tony Fucile render the stories in this 82-page chapter book a certain je-ne-sais-quoi. If the girls' dialogues won't make you laugh, the pictures will. They are fresh, modern, and play with the effect of sparingly (yet effectively) used colors, especially with Gollie's facial expressions.

If you're female, a must-read to get a laugh about yourself, if you're mail, a must-read to understand the other gender a little better.

The only way I could love Bink & Gollie more, were if it were Bink and Wally - as my two boys resemble these characters in coloring, size and personality. I love the way they work together, are imaginative, free range, spunky, and fun! My son and I spent a few minutes enjoying this book this morning for the first time - and immediately my 10 year old son asked if there were more Bink and Gollie books. Love the illustrations by Tony Fucile! They really made the reading enjoyable, so fun to pause and see how he created the scene! I'll need to add this one to our collection at home, as this one was checked out from our wonderful library. 4 thumbs up from my self and my son!Bink and Gollie (Junior Library Guild Selection (Candlewick Press)) [Hardcover]

A match made in Rusty Key heaven, Alison McGhee (author of the Gold Key Collection honoree, the Julia Gillian series) and Kate DiCamillo (author of the Gold Key Collection honorees, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and Tiger Rising) teamed up to create Bink and Gollie, a spunky, whimsical, tender little book, brought to life by the unfathomably adorable illustrations Tony Fucile.

The book contains three episodes, snapshots really of the complicated, yet symbiotic friendship between Bink and Gollie. Gollie's a little older, a little wiser, yet a bit stifled by her own maturity. Bink seems to be younger, more outgoing, but her tendency to dive head first into things often lands her in sticky situations. The two (and this is my favorite part) live in what appear to be separate condos built into a gigantic, old tree. Bink's cottage is nestled into the tree's base, looking very much like Rabbit's borrow in the Whinnie the Pooh books, and Gollie's home, perched in the upper branches, is more akin to a modern beach front property that you might find in Miami or Santa Monica. Whatever the reason is for why these two children live this way an explanation is not required, because it's much more fun to imagine all the things they could get up to in their own little apartments than it is to wonder where the parents are. Each of the stories features Bink and Gollie butting heads in one way or another, then finding ways to compromise, and appreciating the others differences all the more for it.

As an avid reader of both of these authors, it's so much fun to spot elements of each ones style peaking through (McGhee's playful word choices, DiCamillo's poignant brevity). In their own work, both authors are keenly skilled in the art of leaving certain things unsaid, and here is where Fucile steps up to the plate, filing in the silence with pictures that speak volumes; Reminiscent of some of the more imaginative and sentimental Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. But the pictures also add a lovely sort of lonely feeling to this world: while the girls are in full color, the backgrounds are all a bleachy white, black and gray, devoid of other people for as far as the eye can see, aside from the occasional, indifferent shop keeper. Coupled with the fact that these girls do live in tandem, yet alone, their friendship is made all the more vital, and the importance of their ability to get along that much more essential. In turning the final page, a beautiful yet stark winter landscape, Bink and Gollie holding hands as they skate across a frozen pond, one can't help but feel profoundly happy that they have one another. And we at the Rusty Key have yet another reason to be profoundly happy that we have Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee.

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