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*Picture/chapter book, contemporary
*Two best friends, elementary-aged girls as main characters
*Rating: Super cute and clever book, Bink and Gollie will have fans young and old.

Short, short summary:

Bink and Gollie are best friends, and they are about as opposite as you can get. In the three stories in this book, Bink buys a super loud pair of socks, and Gollie tries to get her to abandon them by compromising. In the second story, Gollie is on a pretend trip, climbing the Andes Mountains; and in the third story, Bink has a fish named Fred, and Gollie might be feeling a little jealous. The illustrations in this book are wonderful, and the text is written by an award-winning children’s writer and a New York Times Bestseller.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. Depending on the age of the children whom you read this story with, they can create their own Bink and Gollie adventure. They can write the text and illustrate. If you teach young children or have a young child at home, you can write the story together.

2. Bink and Gollie try to compromise in the first story, but Gollie really just wants Bink to give in. When Bink finally comes up with a compromise, what’s the difference? Ask students to give a definition of compromise. Have any of them ever compromised? What’s another way Bink and Gollie could compromise?

3. In the last story, Bink must sacrifice having Fred as her “marvelous companion” in order to save his life. Ask students what they would have done in this situation. How would they feel? Was there any other possible solution? Why do they think Gollie really did what she did?

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Yesterday the Geisel Award for the most distinguished book for beginning readers was announced. Drumroll, please! And the lucky winner is Bink and Gollie (written by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGee and illustrated by Tony Fucile).

The Honor Books were Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same! (written and illustrated by Grace Lin) and We Are in a Book! (written and illustrated by Mo Willems).

Congratulations to all the winners! I reviewed Bink and Gollie and Ling & Ting on this blog, but I haven't gotten around to reading We Are in a Book yet. That will soon be remedied.

For a complete list  of the 2011 ALSC award winners, click here.

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After reading so many rave reviews of Bink & Gollie by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, I had to see what the fuss was about. Not yet having the book in hand, I couldn't imagine why everyone was so excited. Two girls, one tall, one short, who in the first story buy a pair of socks? Come on, pull the other one.

Then I read the book. Aah, now I see. So I'll add my bucket of praise to the oceans already out there. Bink & Gollie is a wonderful, wonderful book, destined to become a children's classic. DiCamillo, a Newbery award winner, and McGhee, a NY Times bestselling author, have created two winning characters based loosely on themselves. Bink (DiCamillo) is the short one, the down-to-earth one, who lives in a cottage at the base of a giant tree. At the top of the tree, in a modernistic treehouse, lives Gollie. More cerebral than Bink, Gollie speaks with precision and a rather formal syntax. There is a whiff of superiority about her, no doubt caused from living in rarified air among the treetops.

Somewhere between an early reader and a beginning chapter book, Bink & Gollie is 96 pages long and divided into three stand-alone stories. The first concerns socks. While out rollerskating, the girls come across a store having a sale on socks. Not just any socks, but outrageously bright socks. Bink buys herself a pair, and Gollie is mortified. The mere sight of them offends her. After a tiff between the friends, the pair learn the joys of compromise.

The second story involves Gollie's adventure climbing the Andes (in her imagination) while Bink tries her best to wangle her way inside her friend's abode. The final chapter deals with jealousy. Bink buys a pet fish, and Gollie resents him. When the trio are out rollerskating, a near tragedy occurs, but Gollie saves the day (and the fish), and Bink reassures her that she, not Fred the Fish, is the most marvelous companion of all.

No review of this book can be considered complete without mentioning the art. Tony Fucile adds so much to the characters of Bink and Gollie. Bink has a shock of blond hair, giving her an impish charm, while Gollie's lanky body language speaks volumes. The background is usually in black and white with the girls and a few objects (like the socks) highlighted in color. Little wonder this book made the NY Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2010.

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