A young girl visits her grandmother and discovers that she left behind a secret friend on her previous visit. The problem? The girl doesn’t remember anything about the friend or the promise she made to him. Authors Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead offer young readers a book with real-world problems and a fanciful ending in the somewhat delightful but ultimately confusing book Bob.

After five years, Livy has come back to visit her Gran Nicholas. She, her mother, and her baby sister, Beth Ann, have traveled a long way from their home in Massachusetts to Australia for the trip. Livy is excited and nervous all at the same time. She loves her grandmother, but it’s been a long time since she’s visited. Also, she can’t escape the nagging feeling that she forgot something important at Gran’s house the last time she was there.

It turns out that Livy’s right. The important thing she forgot was Bob, a fanciful creature who hid in the closet after a five-year-old Livy told him she would come right back. Bob, understandably, is a little miffed that he had to stay in the closet for so long. After enough apologizing from Livy, though, he agrees to talk to her.

Livy doesn’t remember Bob at all, and Bob doesn’t remember where he came from; all he knows is that when Livy came to Australia the last time, she promised to help him find his way home. As the two talk through Livy’s previous trip, they learn to enjoy one another’s company again. Their sweet friendship will help them through this new challenge as well as others that threaten the entire town, and Livy learns that helping Bob means helping Gran Nicholas and everyone else as well.

Authors Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead give their target readers a pair of kind protagonists. Even though she doesn’t remember spending time with him, Livy doesn’t begrudge Bob’s existence in her life. While she does chide him with gentleness once or twice, the two get along well. Bob, too, comes across as relatable. Children will have no trouble liking him or wishing him well in his intense desire to go home to his mother.

More problematic is the story as a whole. While it makes sense that 10-year-old Livy would have forgotten a special friend from when she was five years old, the fact that she keeps forgetting Bob in the current story doesn’t ring as true. Readers will find out that a particular object helps Livy remember him, but it’s not clear why this plot device is necessary. Livy forgetting Bob over and over again doesn’t contribute anything to the larger story at hand other than to raise the question with older readers that maybe he isn’t real at all. Maybe, in fact, Livy dreamed him up.

Mass and Stead don’t take the easy way out with making Bob an imaginary friend. He’s real and needs help. The reason, though, feels rushed and not well developed. The book tries to tackle too many things all at the same time: the way the environment affects people; the anxiety young children feel when staying overnight in a new place; reconnecting with old acquaintances. The authors could have made the story even more engaging by sticking to just one or two issues rather than try to cover the gamut of them.

As a result, younger readers might appreciate Bob’s dilemma, but smarter readers will get impatient and wonder just what the whole point was after all. I recommend readers Borrow Bob.

Livy is 10 and is back for her every 5 year visit to her Gran in Australia. Something peculiar awaits her in her room though and it is Bob, a green guy the size of a 4 year old who has been waiting for her to come back for 5 years! Seems like an improbable book but the story, the magic, the characters all make this a wonderful read. It would be a perfect read-aloud for 3rd or 4th grade. Starred reviews from: PW, Booklist, and SLJ. 5.0/5.0

A sweet fantasy about friendship and loyalty. Bob is the most adorable zombie-like creature in a chicken suit you will ever meet!

I honestly didn’t think I’d like this or want it for my library. I knew I would because I love both authors, but it seemed a bit too juvenile for a middle school audience. I was so wrong! I read this book in one sitting not even breaking while I ate my oatmeal and drank my coffee. I was hooked. I had no clue where the story was taking me but I was captivated by the alternating voices of Livy and Bob. Who is Bob, where had he come from and where had Livy’s memories gone? This would make a great read aloud - the characters are wonderful, the plot grabs the reader without letting go and it is laugh-out-loud funny at times. Brilliant.

In this middle grade novel, Livy goes from the U.S. to Australia to visit her grandmother for the first time in years. She is disappointed that she has forgotten so much, even a small green not-zombie who she apparently promised to help find his way home. Bob waited five years in the bedroom closet for Livy’s return. Together, they learn about friendship, family, memory, and promises. The story is fun and the characters are memorable.

I love, love, loved this story! There were surprising twists and turns, even for someone who reads books as part of her job. This book is filled with warmth, fun, friendship, humor, and, most importantly, love. Livy sweeps the reader away with her quest to find her memories and impresses with her bravery. Bob demonstrates what a bff should be and how to make lemonade when life gives one lemons. I would love to be friends with both of them!

I was disappointed in this book by two authors I admire. Just not an engaging story. The characters and plot were not well developed leaving the reader feeling less engaged or caring about the text.

A modern-day fairy tale set in drought-ridden Australia, a 10-year old Livy and a strange, undefined green creature, Bob, work together to solve the mystery of Livy's visit to her grandmother's from five years prior to the start of the story. The prose is inviting, readable (plenty of white space), and gentle in its humor. Bob is a bit of a pill at first and the setting is melancholy with little action to drive the narrative, but be patient. The underlying themes of love, attachment, paying homage to childhood, and the necessity of growing up resound in the final chapters. For me, Bob is an echoing of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

This was a very sweet book. I loved the relationship between Livy and Bob. The ending added a lot more meaning. It read younger than expected, but it was cute book.

This is a wonderful Middle Grade novel which had me intrigued from the beginning! I loved the dual point of view and the illustrations add just enough to make the story complete. Lovely story of friendship.

What a lovely story! Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead tell a wonderful fantasy about friendship. I think this story would make a wonderful read aloud to those too young to read on there own. I loved Bob!
#middlegrademay

This book was very weird but also really compelling - a great combination for young readers. When eleven-year-old Olivia (Livy) returns to her grandmother's home in Australia after a 5-year hiatus, she stumbles upon a mysterious green creature named Bob who she was apparently friends with on her last trip, but she has no memory of him. The two work together to discover what exactly Bob is and how they can get him home.

I've read a lot of middle-grade books in my life, and most are pretty predictable. Wendy Mass has managed to write a book that is not only easy to digest for younger readers but also very hard to predict - I didn't see that ending coming and it was delightful. I really wanted to know what in the world Bob was and where he came from, and I bet young readers will be just as invested.

I also liked that this story is rooted in the real world - Australia, in a serious drought - but has magical elements as well. It felt like being immersed in a young child's imagination - nothing was off limits (which helped to make the ending so unpredictable). For readers around Olivia's age (11), who are just starting to scoff at imaginative play (like how Olivia didn't want to admit she still likes playing with dolls), "Bob" could possibly remind them of the power of their own imaginations. I know it made me miss the days when I made up my own worlds and games in my own backyard.

I found this book to be quirky, endearing, intriguing, and a wonderful read. Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead do a fabulous job of capturing Livy and Bob, the not-zombie chicken who has lived in the closet of her bedroom in Livy's Gran's house in Australia for 5 years, just waiting for Livy to return. When Livy does return, so do some of her memories about Bob, how they found each other, and how he can return to his own home. I found this just perfect, and I can't wait to get it in the hands of our young patrons. I know it will soon be a favorite.

Review: This sweet book of friendship is for younger readers than Mass’s usual books. The partnership of Mass and Stead has resulted in good storytelling and writing. I also like the illustrations that are sprinkled throughout the book. Readers who like the theme of friendship, especially with animals or imaginary friends, will love this book. .

This middle grade fantasy novel is a delight. The alternating view between Livy and Bob is so engaging, as well as the sweet storyline and humor.

Bob is a sweet, whimsical story. This would be a great read aloud for young kids, especially kindergarteners and 1st grader.

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.

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.