Buzz for Bink and Gollie

BINK & GOLLIE: BEST FRIENDS FOREVER

Kate DiCamillo Alison McGhee Tony Fucile
All righty then! Celebrate the tall and short of a marvelous friendship with a new Bink and Gollie adventure.
Gollie is quite sure she has royal blood in her veins, but can Bink survive her friends queenly airs especially if pancakes are not part of the deal? Bink wonders what it would be like to be as tall as her friend, but how far will she stretch her luck to find out? And when Bink and Gollie long to get their picture into a book of record holders, where will they find the kudos they seek? Slapstick and sweetness, drollery and delight abound in this follow-up to the Geisel Awardwinning Bink and Gollie, written by the beloved and best-selling Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee and brought to hilarious life by Tony Fucile.

HC: 978-0-7636-3266-3 PB: 978-0-7636-5954-7

HC: 978-0-7636-3361-5 PB: 978-0-7636-6445-9

Winner of the 2011 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award A New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated
Childrens Book of the Year of the Year

The theme of this charming book is, once again, strong and enduring friendship. Minneapolis Star Tribune Short, funny, and tender-hearted tales. BookPage Best friends Bink and Gollie are complete opposites in terms of appearance; they are kindred spirits, though, and readers will delight in sharing in their adventures at the state fair. . . . Short, compact sentences make this book an ideal selection for beginning readers. . . . Fucile employs an economical use of sketchy lines and splashes of color to capture facial expressions and emotions with spot-on accuracy. His artwork goes a long way in making this title the funny, touching book that it is. It would be no surprise if Bink and Gollie were to join the likes of Elephant and Piggie and Frog and Toad in the ranks of favorite friend duos. School Library Journal (starred review)

A Publishers Weekly Best Childrens Book A Kirkus Reviews Best Childrens Book
Oh, happiness! Move over, Pippi Longstocking! . . . Bink and Gollie . . . join the ranks of George and Martha, Frog and Toad, Zelda and Ivy, and all the other resilient pairs that celebrate the challenges and strengths of a great friendship. The New York Times Book Review An especially overt love letter to friendship. . . . One of those books that doesnt fit neatly into any category. . . . But wouldnt you be proud if you spied your six-yearold daughter rehearsing such lines as Bink: I implore you, do not knock. Indeed you would. . . . Who says simple words must come first to readers? . . . Love of language is one of the tried-and-true ways into the reading life. Los Angeles Times An effervescent and endearingly quirky chapter book by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee. . . . Both writers are known for their amusing and sometimes arch narrative style, and here, in three short chapter-stories, they give us two girls who delight and vex each other in equal parts. . . . Tony Fuciles illustrations of the girls are comic and full of zip. The Wall Street Journal

On sale April 23, 2013 $15.99 hardcover ($18.00 CAN) HC: 978-07636-3497-1 96 pages Ages 68

www.binkandgollie.com

illustrations 2012 by Tony Fucile

illustration 2012 by Tony Fucile

CANDLEWICK PRESS

w w w.c andlewick.com

A Q& A with the Authors

What, to you, is the greatest gift of friendship?

About the Authors and Illustrator

KD: Food. And love. Not necessarily in that order. AM: Being seen and known and loved for exactly who
you already are.

Have you ever purchased a self-help product from an ad? Did it work?

KD: I must admit that I am a fan of all things self-

help.I fully intend to return this Stretch-o-Matic and get my money back.

In a few words, how would you best describe some of the interpersonal conflicts between everyones favorite BFFs, Bink and Gollie?

AM: I have indeed purchased a self-help product from

an ad. It was a small instructional booklet on how to draw cartoons. Did it work? Decidedly not.

KD: Well, Gollie is tall. And Bink is short. Thats a

conflict waiting to happen. Also, Gollie is, um, bossy. And Bink is oblivious. Happily, Gollie loves to cook, and Bink loves to eat, so everything works out.

Royal figure in history you would most want to meet?

KD: Henry the Eigth. Lots of food around. AM: The Yellow Emperor. We could sit down together
over a plate of pot stickers.

AM: Bink is very in-the-moment, and Gollie tends to

focus on the big picture. Bink likes things to stay the same, and Gollie longs for adventure. Theyre both wildly determined and strong-willed. Thats where the fun comes in.

Favorite pancake topping?

KD: Blueberries. In. And on top. AM: Lots of butter and lots of maple syrup from
Adirondack sugar maples. Real maple syrup. None of that fake stuff.

What is your favorite part about their dynamic?

KATE DiCAMILLO is the author of The Magicians Elephant, a New York Times bestseller; The Tale of Despereaux, which was awarded the Newbery Medal; Because of Winn-Dixie, a Newbery Honor winner; and six books starring Mercy Watson, including the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride. Kate DiCamillo lives in Minneapolis.

ALISON MCGHEE is the awardwinning author of books for all ages, including Song of Middle C, illustrated by Scott Menchin; the #1 New York Times bestseller Someday, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds; the young adult novel All Rivers Flow to the Sea; and the adult novel Shadow Baby, a Today Book Club selection. Alison McGhee lives in Minnesota.

TONY FuCILE is the authorillustrator of Lets Do Nothing!, chosen as a best book of the year by School Library Journal and Amazon.com. He has spent more than twenty years designing and animating characters for cartoon feature films, including The Lion King, Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles. He lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

KD: My favorite part is how funny it is to watch

them interact. Funny and also incredibly dear and moving. As soon as they open their mouths, they reveal themselves. And then Tonys art deepens those revelations. decided to write a story about two girls and a striped sock, Bink and Gollie sprang forth fully formed. They said what they wanted to say and did what they wanted to do, and we wrote down what happened.

You secretly desire to start what kind of empire?

KD: Hmmm. The Empire of Happiness, Peace, and

Pancakes.

AM: The moment Kate and I sat in my room and

AM: Dont tell anyone, but I would like to start my

own secret society, complete with a secret name, secret passwords, secret handshakes, and mysterious, marvelous, secret missions.

What kind of teenagers do you predict Bink and Gollie would be?

Do you have any odd or unusual collections?

KD: Oh, impossible. AM: Exactly the same as they

are now. Heck, they might be teenagers already. Its kind of hard to tell with those girls.

KD: I would like to collect old Florida snow globes. So

far, I have one.

AM: Yep. I have a fabulous collection of tiny, plastic,

German-engineered wind-up animals. I keep them in a big basket and set them in the middle of the table before a dinner party. You would not believe how much people love playing with those things.

illustration 2012 by Tony Fucile

Any world record aspirations of your own?

illustration 2012 by Tony Fucile

KD: Loudest laugh.Im told that now that Phyllis Diller

is gone, Ive got a shot at it.

AM: Not a one!