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2 New Funny Picture Books Focused on Friendships

| Tasha
Cover image for Bob Is the Biggest, Strongest, and Smartest by Jean Reidy, illustrated by Amy Jindra Hodgson. Features a large blue bear flexing his muscle and a small badger looking shocked behind him.

Bob Is the Biggest, Strongest, and Smartest by Jean Reidy, illustrated by Amy Jindra Hodgson

  • Publisher: Rocky Pond Books
  • Publication Date: February 24, 2026
  • Reviewed from pdf provided by publisher
  • ISBN: 9780593858943

Bob knows that he is the biggest, strongest and smartest bear in the world, and he made sure that everyone in the forest knew that too. Bob loved to talk about himself and brag endlessly about his brawn and his brains. Then Bill came to the neighborhood. Bill loved to ask others about themselves. He asked lots of questions and got lots of answers. Bob spent his time making fun of Bill and explaining that he was still the top bear. Everyone loved chatting with Bill and one another, so when blustery Bob showed up to ask who the “biggest, strongest and smartest Bear in the whole wide world” no one noticed. But Bill did, and Bill started asking Bob questions about himself. And it turns out that even braggy blowhards like Bob like to be asked about themselves and need a few friends too.

Told in an engaging way with speech bubbles and simple lines, this picture book shows that curiosity about others works far better than bragging or selling yourself to them. The contrast between Bob the Bear and Bill the Badger could not be more clearly drawn. I enjoyed that rather than a comeuppance in the end, Bob changed his ways and started finding out about others too. The illustrations are bright and merry, the speech bubbles colored to make them all the more clear for young readers. 

Bullying Bear meets bright Badger in this book. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Cover of Forty the Fortune Teller by Dew Daywalt, illustrated by Kevin Cornell. Features a paper fortune teller toy reaching for a potato chip being sucked in by gum. A basketball glares in the background and a purple cloud looks surprised.

Forty the Fortune Teller by Dew Daywalt, illustrated by Kevin Cornell

  • Publisher: Philomel Books
  • Publication Date: February 24, 2026
  • Reviewed from pdf provided by publisher
  • ISBN: 9780593691465

Forty is a paper fortune teller dropped on the ground when the school bell rang. She’s not sure what to do until she meets Chip, a partially eaten potato chip who plans to escape to Canada in order to not be completely eaten by the kids. When the two discover a bolt on the ground that has fallen off of the playground slide, they decide they must venture across the huge playground to fix it before someone gets hurt. But their journey is full of dangers, happily Forty’s fortunes seem to come true! Perhaps they can manage to get the bolt replaced before the bell rings for recess or the fortunes run out. 

This picture book offers a graphic novel feel that makes it marvelously modern while focusing on timeless schoolyard elements of playground equipment, basketballs, potato chips, gum and fortune tellers. The text is superb silliness, leaning hard into the fortunes being whacky and then coming to life. Readers will delight in realizing they have no idea what is coming next. The illustrations create a friendly vibe, using interesting perspectives that add to the wild situations the story has created. 

A mad and magical playground adventure. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Review: The King and the Magician by Jorge Bucay

| Tasha

king and the magician

The King and the Magician by Jorge Bucay, illustrated by Gusti

There once was a powerful king who asked his subjects who the most powerful man in the kingdom was, and they replied that he was, of course.  The one day, the King heard about a man who had a different power than he had, a humble magician who had the power to predict the future.  Even worse, the King discovered that the magician was well respected and beloved.  So the King called the Magician before him after devising an evil plan.  He would ask the Magician if he could really tell the future.  If the Magician answered “No” then he proved he had no power.  If he answered “Yes” then the King would ask him to predict his own death.  Either way, the King would immediately kill him.  But then a strange thing happened and the Magician declared that he could see the future and that he would die at the same time as the King.  Suddenly, the King’s plan meant nothing.  He could not kill the Magician without hurting himself.  So instead he started protecting the Magician.  Still, the Magician had much more to teach him, if the King would listen.

Bucay has created a picture book that has depths to it.  It is a fairy tale of a king and a magician but it is also about creating one’s fate, listening to wisdom and being willing to change.  It is a book that continues even after some may have ended it with the Magician ensconced in luxury and being protected by the King.  Happily, it doesn’t end there, because the more profound part of the story follows when the relationship between the two men burgeons into friendship and deep caring for one another.  It is a story of how enemies become friends, how power can be used for good.  In a word, it’s exceptional.

Gusti’s illustrations add to that feeling of a very rich and amazing read.  Using paint and collage, the illustrations have a still regal bearing.  There is a strength and solidity to them that grounds this story, making it more realistic.  There are also touches of whimsy, like the teddy bear that accompanies the powerful king everywhere. 

Strong, enchanting and profound, this picture book will start discussions about power, enemies and truth.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.