Bink & Gollie Books in Order

The Bink & Gollie books are slim, heavily illustrated chapter books about two best friends who could hardly be more different. Bink is small, rumpled, impulsive, and powered by peanut butter. Gollie is tall, precise, and partial to pancakes and big ideas. They live in neighboring homes connected by a fantastical tree house, and the stories trace how their opposing temperaments collide and click.

Each volume is made up of three linked episodes rather than a single long plot. In the first book, readers see Bink’s love of outrageously bright socks run headlong into Gollie’s sense of style, watch Gollie attempt a solo expedition to the “Andes,” and meet an unlikely new pet who tests the limits of what can fit into a friendship. The second book, Two for One, sends the pair to a state fair, where Bink tries heroically—and unsuccessfully—to win a gigantic doughnut, Gollie freezes on stage during a talent show, and a fortune-teller reminds them that having each other is the best future they can ask for.

In Best Friends Forever, Gollie becomes briefly convinced she is of royal blood after finding an old photograph, Bink experiments with a dubious stretching contraption in hopes of feeling taller, and together they plot to get into a compendium of extraordinary achievements. None of these plans play out quite as expected, but every misadventure nudges them toward a deeper understanding of themselves and of each other.

The books are visually distinctive. They blend panels and full-page illustrations with spare lines of text, almost like an early graphic novel. Much of the humor lives in the art: the tilt of Bink’s wild hair, Gollie’s theatrical gestures, a perfectly timed pause in the middle of a page. The words that are on the page are carefully chosen and often very funny, making them rewarding to read aloud or for newly independent readers to tackle alone.

Underneath the jokes and roller skates, the series is about the quiet work of friendship. Bink and Gollie have to practice compromise—about socks, about space, about how much honesty is kind. They get jealous, they feel left out, and they sometimes wish the other person would change. But again and again they choose to show up for each other, whether that means sharing a doughnut, sitting in a dark movie theater together, or simply listening.

For children, the Bink & Gollie books offer fast, funny stories filled with recognizable emotions. For adults, they capture the odd magic of a friendship where two people who don’t quite match somehow make a perfect pair.