Bink & Gollie: Two for One (review)

Polar-opposite friends stumpy Bink and lanky Gollie have returned, and they're off to the state fair. In the first episode, Bink is determined to win at Whack a Duck but keeps beaning the game operator instead ("I fear this can only end in tragedy," says Gollie); in the second, Gollie's dream of being in a talent show turns into a nightmare; in the third, the friends visit a fairground fortuneteller. B&G again hit that sweet spot where picture books, graphic novels, and early readers converge. The text is almost entirely dialogue, the back-and-forth banter between the two girls evincing the unmistakable well-worn rhythm of a long friendship; the illustrations add dimension to the action (as in the sequence where Gollie stands mute from stage fright in front of a packed audience, with each scene drawing back farther and showing her smaller and more outnumbered), and the colored figures with their zesty lines contrast with the monochromatic backgrounds. The book follows a satisfying trajectory from the first story's slapstick through the second's pathos to conclude with the affirmation of friendship in the third, and the blend of humor and sympathetic warmth buoys the story throughout. This endearing partnership remains a treat to follow, and readers will be as delighted as Bink and Gollie about the fortune-teller-certified long-term soundness of their friendship.