  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 09/01/2017 PreS-K—Boof the bear is a nervous type, but his lucky leaf keeps him safe. He and the leaf do everything together, until a strong breeze blows his sidekick away. Luckily, Pine the porcupine is only too eager to help. Some of the assistance he offers is a little iffy (performing calculations, swinging on vines), but in the end, Boof's fears are calmed as he's lost his leaf but found a new friend. Burach has created an enjoyable story that is accompanied by muted, relaxing pencil and acrylic paint images. A little too much happens in the story for young audiences to keep track of, though, and some of the elements presented, such as a bikini top on the bear's head and the use of a compass, might mystify them. VERDICT Additional. A better finding-a-friend book is Phyllis Root's Toot Toot Zoom! and better losing-your-comfort-object titles are Mo Willems's Knuffle Bunny and Amber Stewart's I'm Big Enough.—Henrietta Verma, National Information Standards Organization, Baltimore - Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Booklist - 09/15/2017 Boof, an introverted, nature-loving bear, and Pine, an extroverted porcupine who seeks adventure, join forces to find Boof’s lucky leaf, which has blown away. Pine devises a plan to find the missing leaf, and an impressed Boof acquiesces, not seeming to notice that Pine is a little scatterbrained and his plan is goofy at best. In their search for the leaf, the duo manage to annoy a boar and a snake, get stuck in a hollow log, find themselves stranded on a mountain, and miss catching the leaf altogether. But never mind, they’ve found the perfect spot for roasting marshmallows around a campfire. The brief text and the humorous pencil-and-acrylic drawings, with richly colored backgrounds in natural tones that reflect the woodland setting, are skillfully balanced, conveying the slapstick quality of the hair-raising adventure. While Boof is large and docile and Pine is small and frenetic, both are a dome-shaped natural match, making it reasonable that they could be best buds and predisposed to multiple adventures—their second arrives in 2018. - Copyright 2017 Booklist. Loading...
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