BOB AND FLO

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.