Bink and Gollie 

By Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee 

Illustrated by Tony Fucile 

Bink and Gollie are two best friends. They do everything together but can't always agree (except for putting on roller skates, they always agree to that.) When it comes to wearing socks, venturing to the Andes Mountains or buying a goldfish a compromise is required. For Bink and Gollie, even though they might not see eye to eye, these two girls will always be the best of friends. 

This book was a wonderful read. It was comical, artistic and would be a great way to introduce students to beginner chapter books. It also is a great story on friendship and how friends can work out disagreements. The story itself is good but the illustrations are what brings it to life. Without the pictures, half of the story would be missing. The book could be considered a graphic novel, where it is read like a comic book. 

                                             

Overall I thought this would be and enjoyable, comical read for 2nd or 3rd graders. 

   
Flora's Very Wind Day
Written by Jeanne Birdsall and Illustrated by Matt Phelan

 On a very windy day, Flora and her little, annoying brother, Crispin, are forced to go outside after making a huge mess with the paints. Having her super-special heavy-duty red boots, Flora was securely glued to the ground. On the other hand, her little brother Crispin, just had regular old purple boots, which didn't secure him to the ground at all. The wind lifts Crispin into the air,who has a very frightened look on his face. Flora kicks off her red boots and is taken by the wind as well, catching a hold onto to Crispin's hand. While being taken by the wind, Flora is given the opportunity to give her pesky brother away by receiving tempting offers from a dragon fly, man in the moon and even the wind itself. Although. at times, Flora would have loved to have given her brother away, this adventure makes her realize that even though her brother makes her mad at times, she still loves him very much and could never give him away.

Flora and Crispin flew on and on until they came upon a rainbow.

Will you give me that little boy? asked the rainbow. "He could guard my pot of gold. 

"Gold!" That was tempting. 

But, though Flora, Crispin's not fierce enough to guard anything.

"No. He's my brother and I'm taking him home." 

This was a very cute and enjoyable story that also had a great lesson. There are times when you get so mad at someone, you wish to send them away but after you start to think about it and calm down you find reasons for them to stay.  This is a great lesson for children because there will be times when they get angry at their friends and will say "'You're not my friend anymore," and not really mean it. They need to know there will be times when you will get angry at friends and wish them away but there are many more reasons for you to want them to stay, instead.