Bob and Flo

April 27, 2015
Flo the penguin is starting preschool with a pink bow and a pink lunch bucket. Then, without permission, her new friend Bob walks off with the bucket and plays it with all day, using it as a hat, footstool, and drum. None of this registers with Flo at first (she goes off looking for her bucket while Bob is standing right in front of her, wearing it on his head), but when it finally does, Flo is not even a little miffed. Instead, she fills the bucket with water, which she uses to free Bob, who has gotten himself stuck on a playground slide. At day’s end, Bob shows no signs of returning the bucket. “See you tomorrow, Bob!” Flo says cheerfully. “And don’t forget our bucket!” British illustrator Ashdown (How the Library Saved Rapunzel) has loads of visual talent: her minimalist graphic style is sunny and fun, and her poker-faced characterizations have a naïf charm. But most readers will likely be taken aback by Bob’s brazenness and wish that Flo would stand up for herself a little. Ages 4–8. Agency: Bright Agency.

Starred review from June 1, 2015
On the first day of preschool, a bucket becomes the catalyst for a wonderful new friendship. Flo arrives for her first day with a pink bow on her head and a red bucket filled with fish: her lunch. (All the characters are rather serious-looking penguins whose emotions are revealed through posture and body language.) The words on the pages follow Flo as she goes through her day, but the pictures tell a somewhat different story. "Flo tried some painting" appears on the verso, but the recto shows Bob, who admired Flo's bucket on a previous page, eyeing said bucket. And a turn of the page reveals fish all over the ground and a missing bucket...and "something different" about Bob. The unflappable Flo fails to notice that Bob's new hat is in fact her bucket and goes off to look for it, along the way noticing Bob building a tower (while perched atop the bucket), some sand castles outside (remarkably bucket-shaped), and Bob playing a new drum. Finally, during recess, Flo and her bucket are reunited and come to the rescue of Bob, and a new friend is made. Understated illustrations made of textured papers in muted tones keep the focus on the developing friendship and the slapstick humor. Here's hoping for a return of Bob and Flo...and for every preschooler to find a friendship like theirs. (Picture book. 2-5)

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July 1, 2015

PreS-On the first day of preschool, Flo, a little penguin, meets a classmate who is fascinated by her pink lunch bucket. While Flo is busy painting, Bob purloins her pail. The spare, deadpan narration follows Flo's ensuing search as she nonchalantly passes by bucket-shaped sand castles and casually notices "there was something different" about Bob's appearance. Ashdown's charming mixed-media illustrations show Bob's humorous transformations of the bucket into a hat, a stepping stool, and a drum. When Flo finds her bucket, she uses it to help Bob out of a playground jam and to forge their friendship. VERDICT Pair this title with Antoinette Portis's Not a Box (HarperCollins, 2007) for an imaginative toddler storytime.-Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada

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