Bink & Gollie: Two for One

written by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee

illustrated by Tony Fucile
Candlewick Press | June 12, 2012

DiCamillo, McGhee, and Fucile are back with a second book featuring Bink and Gollie and it’s as satisfying as the first. 

Two seemingly opposite yet equally quirky friends spend the day at the state fair trying to win a giant donut, attempting to participate in an amateur talent show, and having their fortune read. Set up the same way as the first Bink & Gollie title, with three distinct stories acting as chapters, the pages vary in how much text appears – some with only a few words, some simply allowing Fucile’s comic-like art to stand for itself, and some with longer passages, which make the book a perfect beginning-reader. 

Bink and Gollie seem on more equal footing here than in the first book, with Gollie looking to Bink for support after she freezes during the talent show and deferring to Bink’s determination that they’ve heard enough from Madame Prunely’s crystal ball – “That’s all the future I need to know! Come on, Gollie!” 

Fucile’s use of black and white backgrounds with bright colors for people and important objects makes each page an aesthetic treat. The book’s flawless design uses heavy, glossy pages with full-bleed color for endpapers and to separate stories. Here’s hoping Two for One isn’t the last we see of these two irresistible girls.