Ollie & Moon

Ollie & Moon by Diane Kredenson
Illustrated by Diane Kredenson
Photographs by Sandra Kress
Published by Random House Children's Books
2011

     Ollie and Moon are best friends living in Paris.  "Moon loves surprises, and Ollie loves to surprise Moon."  And the one thing that Moon loves even more than surprises is trying to figure out what they are.  One day Ollie comes to Moon's house and tells her he has a new surprise for her. While trying to figure out what the surprise is, Ollie and Moon take us on a tour of Paris including the metro, a fromagerie (with what looks like a Camembert cheese purchase), a farmer's market, and even a boulangerie.  Each step, gives Moon a new clue as to what the surprise might be: it's round, musical, it has lots of colors, fur, hooves, feathers, it's bright with lights and it spins. Can you guess what it is? And no, it's not "an elephant on a unicycle juggling animals while playing the French horn."
     Ollie & Moon is a very entertaining picture book with two fun and likable characters.  The mix of photographs of Paris (by Kress) with the illustrations on top of them (by Krendenson) works very well and gives the whole book a very cool feeling.  Young readers will enjoy the character's antics, the cumulative tale, and will definitely try to guess what Moon's surprise will be.  Great new friendship to explore in follow up books.