Renee Treml, Bunny Ideas (The Super Adventures of Ollie and Bea #5), Allen & Unwin, January 2023, 64 pp., RRP $12.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781761068119
Renee Treml, Otter-ly Ridiculous (The Super Adventures of Ollie and Bea #6), Allen & Unwin, January 2023, 64 pp., RRP $12.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781761068126
Parents with emerging readers might be familiar with the growing bank of colourful, graphic novels for young children featuring a friend duo. This niche category might have become established with the huge popularity of Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggie series. But recently there are more and more series in this category: Gustav and Henri, Crab & Snail, Archie and Reddie, and Narwhal and Jelly are a few we’ve enjoyed, but there seem to be plenty of others, including the Ollie and Bea series, by Renee Treml.
Bunny Ideas (#5) and Otter-ly Ridiculous (#6) are the most recent additions to the series which primarily features Ollie the owl and Bea the bunny. The two seem to be solid, but all books need contentions and problems, so in each of these books readers are shown a different crack in the friendship.
Ollie and Bea are the leaders within a group of animals who gather to play games together. The types of games are similar to playground games likely to be played by the target audience, which is probably 5-9 year olds. The attitudes of the characters are also inline with primary schoolers. We see the “I-just-bear-to-lose” tactics of a maturing mind contrasted with “If-you-say-so” and “I’m-just-happy-to-be-included” type of responses.
While these are books for young primary school aged children, for children to read them independently they are going to have a handle on puns. Regularly throughout the story the characters create word play, usually using animals or animal related words. For example, the squirrel saying “I did nut think you’d find me up here”. It’s nothing too drastic, but some might be slightly more difficult for a novice reader to decode, while more established readers will love it.
A solid addition to any school library, these books are great because they’re likely to be read in one session, giving children a sense of accomplishment.
Reviewed by Cherie Bell