Ollie and Bea: Bunny Ideas by Renee Treml

Title: Ollie and Bea: Bunny Ideas

Author: Renee Treml

Genre: Graphic novel

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 31^st January 2023

Format: Paperback

Pages: 64

Price: $12.99

Synopsis: Best friends Ollie and Bea continue to delight young readers in this super cute series: full-colour graphic novels that celebrate fun and friendship and the differences that make us special.

Bea has a PAW-some plan for fun games to play with her friends (as long as everyone follows her rules).

Can Bea have a hoot with her friends? Even when she doesn’t win?

Join Ollie and Bea and their loyal friends who just want to have fun. The perfect book for young readers who love to laugh.

‘There’s a warmth to these stories where friendship and resilience triumph alongside many laughs. As Ollie and Bea would say, these books are a “hoot”!’ – Kim Gruschow

~*~

Bea is very eager to play games with the Super Team – but she has a very specific idea about how she wants the game to go, and rules that her friends all think are silly – and they want to play the games their way! Ut Bea doesn’t like it when her rules are broken – so what are her friends to do?

This fun graphic novel series called Ollie and Bea is all about friendship and working together, and perfect for younger readers who love laughing, who are building their reading confidence, and to help children navigate the complexities of friendship and finding ways to get on with the people in their lives. These concepts are written about in fun and relatable ways for kids, so they can understand on their level, and relate to the problems they might face in their own lives, like deciding on a game to play, or in this instance, how to play it, and lessons about exclusion without spelling it out in a didactic fashion.

I’ve read a few of these books now – both as a quiz writer and as a reviewer, and they’re really fun, colourful books that I think readers of all ages can enjoy. They’re not just for kids who struggle with reading. Anyone who likes graphic novels might enjoy these, and I think they’re going to have universal appeal for many ages. Older confident readers might like them as a break from some of the heavier reading they might do, or they can share them with younger siblings in their family, and help them learn to read.

I started reading these when some were sent to me to write quizzes for Scholastic, and books five and six arrived as review books – so if I get asked to write a quiz, I will already have a copy to refer to!! What I like about these books is the way the friends work things out, and the way each character is unique, and all the fantastic animal puns – they’re lots of fun!!! There are six in the series now and I am wondering if there will be any more books to come! A great book for younger readers.