Series: Bink & Gollie
Genre: Early/Easy Reader
Author: Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee
Illustrator: Tony Fucile
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication
Date: September
14, 2010
ISBN: 076363266X
Awards:
2011 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award;
2011 ALA Notable Children’s Books, Younger Readers;
Children's Book Committee Bank Street College of Education Best
Children's Books of the Year 2011, Humor, ages 5-9;
Kirkus Reviews 2010 Best Children’s Books; Publishers Weekly Best
Children’s Books 2010, Fiction;
NY Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2010
Plot: The sock shopping, pancaking
eating, mountain climbing, roller skating adventures of Bink ( along with her fish named
Fred) and Gollie.
Audience:
Age Level: 6 and up, Grade Level:
1 and up
Uses: This is a great book for an eager early
reader to expand their horizons. It would also be good for reading aloud in a classroom or
library as long as one shares the delightful illustrations. It's a nice book to
illustrate that the best of friends can look and act completely differently and
still be holding hands at the end of the day.
Simple Concept:
The book is a collection of three
stories and both the story “title” and the first word of the first story are
simple and easy to read. Each progressive
story is more intricate but the concept of two friends making plans is clear in
each story.
Character Introduction:
Bink and Gollie are introduced in the very first line of the
story.
Setting
Introduction: The title page features the homes
of Bink and Gollie, and the town setting is quickly introduced.
Words per
line: The lines
have no more than ten words each, but some of the words are doozies.
Sentence
Structure: Sentence
span lines and often take two or three to complete. The structure is not overly
simplistic.
Action: There are multiple action scenes on each page both in text and in illustration.
Appealing
Repetition: Through the three stories there
is a continuity of Bink’ striped socks which she purchases, much to Gollie’s
dismay, in the first story. There are
very few word sequence repetitions.
Context for
new words: There are
some context clues for the extremely long early reader words, but not enough to
completely explain them all, especially when more than one appears in a
sentence.
Print: The print is in a clean,
uncluttered font but it not overly large.
White Space: There is plenty of white space for the eye to rest.
Illustrations:
The illustrations are mostly in
black and white with pops of color. They
do give clues to the accompaning text. For example a giant bin of socks accompanies the phrase, “It’s a
sock bonanza.”
Strengths: Very funny, charming tale of two
friends. The humorous artwork engages
the reader and helps pull them along the narrative. The book offers some new vocabulary for the
child reader and dry humor for the adult listener/reader.
Weaknesses: While these new words area
welcome addition to any child’s vocabulary; they are in no way easy to
read. Words like outrageous; Tasmania;
implore, extraordinary, and accomplishment mean that an adult needs to be
within easy reach for the child to really understand the text.
Read Alikes:
George
and Martha series (1974)
James Marshall; Zelda and Ivy series (1998) Laura McGee
Kvasnosky; Calvin and Hobbs series by
Bill Watterson
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