I'll Save You Bobo!
By Regan McMahon,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Boy's fun struggle to write a jungle story with toy monkey.
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What's the Story?
Willy tries to read his sock monkey best friend Bobo a story, but his cat, Earl, keeps horning in on the action. \"Let's write our own book, Bobo,\" he says, \"It will be all about you. And me.\" He proceeds to create a jungle adventure with crayons, moving his base of operations into a \"tent\" (under a sheet stretched across two chairs), but Earl climbs up and crashes through it. Willy takes Bobo and moves to a table to continue and works out his irritation with Earl by putting him in the story -- to be eaten by a snake! In a final twist, Willy shrieks in terror when he mistakes Earl's tail for a real snake.
Is It Any Good?
I'LL SAVE YOU BOBO is utterly delightful. It shows a boy's passion for storytelling, his excitement at imagined adventure, and his fierce loyalty to his best friend/sock monkey, Bobo. The emotions are real and familiar, and the echoes of Willy's narration in Earl's actual movements are clever and entertaining.
The spare, cartoon-like drawings against a soft yellow background contrast Willy's unbridled enthusiasm with Earl and Bobo's deadpan reactions. And the charmingly rendered relationship of boy and stuffed animal can't help but remind you of the great comic strip Calvin and Hobbes.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about creative things you can do when you get annoyed by a pet, a friend, or a sibling. Kids: Do you have ways that keep you from blowing up?
Have you ever written a story in pictures? Is it harder or easier to tell a story that way?
Kids: Have you ever written a story about one of your stuffed animals? Would you like to try?
Book Details
- Author: Eileen Rosenthal
- Illustrator: Marc Rosenthal
- Genre: Picture Book
- Topics: Cats, Dogs, and Mice
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster
- Publication date: April 3, 2012
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 3 - 6
- Number of pages: 40
- Last updated: July 12, 2017
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