Title: Pine & Boof: The Lucky Leaf
Author/Illustrator: Ross Burach
Published: Scholastic, 2017

You guys, how is summer almost over? Like, what happened? To be TOTALLY honest, in some ways this summer has seemed quite long. (See: days when my children feel like whining and complaining and requesting snacks NON stop. How do kids that age eat so much? Also, if I hear the CATS soundtrack one more time, I might lose my dang mind. Lily is obsessed with it. I fall asleep hearing “I have a gumbie cat in mind…her name is Jenny Anydots…playing round and round in my head…but I digress.) In other ways, however, the summer has flown by.

And it has been fillllled with this book. Pine & Boof: The Lucky Leaf. Lily LOVES this story. What’s it about? I’m so glad you asked!

It’s about Boof, a bear (who happens to be afraid of bears…a fact which Lily finds endlessly amusing). Boof likes to find things and draw faces on them. In this case, a lucky red leaf. Unfortunately, it blows away. Enter Pine (the porcupine). Pine tries to help Boof find the leaf…but…it blows farther and farther away and then is totally, 100% gone.

But, surprisingly, Boof isn’t super-sad about that. Why? Because he’s had such a wonderful adventure with Pine, trying to get his leaf back. And he’s made a REAL friend. Someone who will adventure with him forever.

All together now: awww!

This book is one of my go-to stories for bedtime. Why? There are four reasons!

1. It’s funny. I like funny, what can I say? Lily really likes the part where Pine is searching for the leaf and looks “under a Boof.” Hilarious!
2. The art works perfectly with the text. I really dig Ross Burach’s cartoon-y style. The text is hilarious and the pictures are excellent. Lily’s favourite page is when Boof is supposed to be explaining something “calmly” according to the text, but the picture shows him sobbing hysterically. Brilliant.
3. It’s a great length. I am always leery of overly-wordy books at bedtime (looking at you AGAIN, Berenstain Bears). This one hits the mark perfectly.
4. It has a great denouement. The end is fun and happy, but the adventure is officially over for the night, so let’s hit the hay and dream of new adventures tomorrow. (Hint, hint, Lily.)I’m going to be honest: I hadn’t heard of Ross Burach until he appeared in our Scholastic book order last year. We got a bundle of his books and I’m so glad we did! They’re all fantastic (Truck Full of Ducks is a personal favourite), and Lily LOVES them. We were at the library today and she specifically looked for him on the shelves. If you haven’t read any of his stuff, you’re missing out! Pick up absolutely anything he’s written, and I guarantee your little one will enjoy it. And so will you!

Mama’s rating: 5 happy leaves/5

Lily’s rating: “This book is hilarious! I really like the part where they look under Boof. Ha!”