Such a fabulous book! A quick read that is perfect for everyone. My kindergartener would love to hear it read aloud so there’s really no bottom age for this book.

SUMMARY:
Livy is visiting her grandmother for the first time since she was five. She’s ten now and can’t remember anything from the last time she was there. She finds an unusual creature who says he’s been waiting there for her all this time. She said she’d be right back and it’s been five years. Who/ what is he? Where did he come from? Why can’t she remember anything?

CONTENT:
Language: none
Sexuality: none
Violence: none
Drugs/Alcohol: none


THEMES:
friendship, fantasy, loyalty

THE BOTTOM LINE:
this book is perfect! We’re going to have a couple of copies in the elementary school and it will be in our mock newbery this fall!

STATUS IN MY LIBRARY:
multiple copies

READALIKES:
I can’t think of anything like it.

Bob is what happens when you blend the magic of Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead together. This gentle book about friendship, remembering, faithfulness, fortitude, and our relationship with the earth is a must read...alone, in a classroom, with a certain special child. And always with a cupcake or four. The back and forth narrative keeps the pace moving smoothly and allows the reader to know the main characters more intimately. As a school librarian, I see many opportunities for activities to deepen readers’ connections to Bob.

I had the opportunity to read a digital ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for this review. This wonderful middle grade fantasy story reminded me somewhat of Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate in that this extraordinary creature, Bob, returns to the forefront of 11-year-old Livy’s life at a time when she seems to need him most. She’s at a stressful point in her life: growing up, becoming more independent, and yet still reluctant to spend time away from her mother. He definitely needs her, as he has spent the last five years waiting for her return in a closet at her grandmother’s home in Australia. Unfortunately, she doesn’t remember much about her visit to her grandmother’s house so long ago and has forgotten all about Bob.
When she arrives and finds Bob dressed in a chicken suit in the bedroom closet, it doesn’t take long for her to recollect that Bob needs her help to figure out who he is and how to return to his own home and family. Helping Bob helps Livy forget about her mother’s departure with her baby sister to go visit friends in another part of Australia.
As the two piece together the mystery of Bob’s arrival and how to send him where he belongs, it becomes clear that they have developed a beautiful friendship. They need each other and both display creativity and courage in trying to help each other. The authors do a terrific job of building suspense as the two characters get closer and closer to solving the mystery of Bob. I am quite certain that this book will be very popular among upper elementary kids and early middle school students.

Absolutely magical! I raced through this book. I think it would make a perfect read aloud and plan to read it aloud to my 6th graders next year as part of Lunch Bunch.

This was such a sweet book! I really liked Livy and Bob's friendship and the fact that they both took care of one another. It would have gotten 5 stars if there was some explanation for Livy feeling as anxious as she does throughout the story...maybe I missed it? The illustrations were very good; I wonder if there will be more in the final edition.

This would be a good book for the elementary age child or for a family read.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the e-book. I have a soft spot in my heart for E.T. and now I've made room for Bob. Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass are chocolate and peanut butter together - fantastic!

Almost eleven-year-old Livy can't remember anything about an earlier trip to Gran Nicholas' home in Australia when Livy was five, despite her grandmother's best efforts to help her remember by plying Livy with knick-knacks and items she loved from her previous visit. Livy feels terrible about not remembering her stay until she finally is able to recall little details: a chicken that isn’t like the others, the stairs that lead to the second floor, and the closet door in Livy’s bedroom. Upon investigating the closet, Livy is reacquainted with her former friend, Bob, who looks like a small zombie dressed in a chicken suit as he stands atop a dictionary. Or at least he says he’s her friend, and he wonders why she hasn’t been back in five years. Alternating chapters, we hear first from Livy, then from Bob, as the story of their friendship is slowly revealed. Livy begins to understand more about Bob while she tries to help him figure out where he came from (it appears that Livy isn’t the only one in this story with the inability to remember the past). When a neighbor’s young son goes missing after lunch one day, Livy and her Gran join a search party while Bob embarks on an investigation of his own. Clues to the mystery of Bob’s origin are revealed, culminating in a satisfying end. Well-developed characters and a fast-paced story will keep readers engaged and interested in knowing how Bob and Livy’s friendship came to be.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC to review this book.
When Livy returns to her grandma's Australian farm after many years, she has a feeling she's forgotten something --it turns out to be a someone - Bob. This story alternates between the viewpoints of Livy and Bob as they work together to find out what Bob is, and where he came from. I found it a really sweet story, with a lovely message about the importance of family. I found the writing style to be really fun and engaging, and the characters were really vibrant. This book is a delightful twist on a typical fairy tale, and I definitely plan on reading it to my kids. I also can't wait to see the illustrations in the finished copy!

This luminous story about friendship and identity falls outside easy categorization. The gentle, teasing humor in the story begins with Bob, a little greenish creature dressed in a chicken suit who's been waiting for five years in a bedroom closet for his human friend to return. Never overly sweet, the story revolves around 10-year-old Livy who is visiting her faraway Gran in Australia and has very vague (and somewhat mysterious) memories of a previous visit years five years earlier. As she and Bob rediscover their friendship from that time, they unravel the mystery together. Readers are drawn along as the weird, funny, and touching fantasy of little Bob and Livy grows and grows. Cannot recommend this book enough. Wonderful for classroom read-alouds, or bedtime.

This was a sweet story that I finished in one sitting. It really is a callback to being young. Remembering how you felt about fairy tales and make believe and how carefree being young is.
Livy realizes that her friend Bob has been waiting 5 years for her. But she doesn't remember him. When she is with him, his magic helps her remember all the times they spent together. This is a great middle grade read about friendship and going the distance to help your friend.

Bob reminds of of Frank Cottrell Boyce's Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth. Quirky and heartwarming.

This is a story that one must experience, as it tells in one passage, "how one thing can be lots of other things. All it takes is a little imagination." It's been a while when a book brought tears at the end, and this one, out May 1st, did. Livy, ten, has come back to visit her grandmother in Australia, has not been there for five years. She keeps thinking that there's something important she's forgotten from the earlier visit. And there is, a green-faced creature, a zombie?, is hiding in her bedroom closet, and neither one knows who he is or where he might be from. His name is Bob. It's up to him and Livy to figure out the mystery and along the way, other questions about life. Thanks to NetGalley, I had the pleasure of reading this a little early. Wrapped up beautifully using part of background stories in magical water creatures, Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass have written a story that will fascinate children and offer a satisfying smile, maybe tears too, at the end. Illustrations by Nicholas Gannon show just enough scenes to aid the imagination.

Bob is a fun, short story of a girl rediscovering a childhood friend–who might just be a zombie. But this middle grades book isn’t scary. It’s fun and sweet and heartwarming and a little magical. It hasn’t stuck with me, but I enjoyed it as I read it.

“Bob” by Wendy Mass is a strange little tale about a girl who visits her grandmother in Australia and finds a green creature dressed in a chicken suit in her closet named Bob...I know it sounds so strange!

I often feel nostalgic as an adult reading middle grade books and the themes that are so universal in them no matter your age. I’ve certainly can name many other books that are better than “Bob”, but I have to say this one had it in sections and I could totally see it becoming a very cute and successful animated film. It would be adorable! I appreciated Mass’ unique take on the theme of friendship (that is so popular in middle grade) and her setting being in Australia.

Overall, I would think that many kids would enjoy this story and adults too will find Bob to be a very funny and genuine friend.

Thanks to Macmillan’s Children’s Publishing for sending me an advanced copy! Get your copy May 1st!

A gentle tale of friendship and magic told in the alternating voices of Livy and Bob, her mysterious friend. Just who, or what, Bob is and how Livy is going to help him will keep readers intrigued and charmed. And finally, I'm thankful to see there are no nightmares in the closet! A sweet story about growing up without being sugar-coated.

Loved, loved, loved this book! Short, sweet and wonderful! A quick read that is sure to be a hit in my school library with the 3rd through 5th graders.

Livy hasn't been to her grandmother’s farm in Australia since she was five; she's a whole ten-and-a-half now. Naturally, there are a few things she's forgotten, but they start to come back soon enough: the chickens, the horses (now sadly departed due to the drought), the little green dude in a chicken suit hiding in her closet. Bob was her best friend back in the day and, though she forgot him entirely in the intervening years, Livy intends to finally fulfill her promise to him to figure out who/what he is and get him back to his family, whoever/whatever/wherever they may be. A short and sweet adventure.

A refreshing and charming juvenile fiction novel. I read it in one sitting. I couldn’t get enough, but now I want a “Bob;” or maybe one like him? Truly a book for all ages. Highly recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

The unforgiving terrain of Australia is the backdrop for this story about a child named Livy and her grandma, Grandma's neighbors, and Bob.

So, imagine spending a few years of your life in a closet waiting for your best friend to return to free you. Then, when she returns, she can't remember you. This is Bob's Big Bummer.

But magic ensues and mysteries abound as they put the pieces of their puzzle together. Together.

The power of love and the bonds of friendship are shared between the characters of this book in an intricate tale that will affect you just as it did the town and even the weather! Whether or not you mean it to or not.

This is a really sweet, magical story about a friendship between a not-zombie creature in a chicken suit and a little girl who struggles to remember the details of how they became friends. It is an endearing tale of a precious creature, aptly (?) named Bob and his friend Livy who met him when she was five years old while visiting her grandmother's house in Australia. Livy has returned five years later to find this unusual green creature in her bedroom's closet who has been waiting for her all this time. Together, they work to figure out who Bob really is, where he is from, and how to get him back to his people. I enjoyed the story but kind of wished for a little more adventure for Bob and Livy. I think I loved the relationship and the discoveries Livy and Bob were making about how their friendship started and I just wanted a little more. Other than that, it is a pretty quick read and I think kids will snicker at times and will adore Bob and all of his oddities.