Two Guys in Wanderland: Bob and Joss Get Lost by Peter McCleery

Bob was bored.

"Let's take a boat trip," said Joss.

NO WAY!" said Bob. "We'll get lost."

"No, we won't!" said Joss.

What could happen?

Well, for starters, they get lost.

Bob is worried. Joss is confident. He know right where he is.

"I am on a boat with you."

Bob spots what he fears is a storm cloud. Joss thinks it looks more like a bunny cloud.

Bob is right. Their little craft is swamped in the storm and the two novice sailors find themselves awash on the waves, clinging to parts of their not-so-sturdy sailboat. This was not the plan.

"Bob," says Joss. "Your name is very appropriate right now!"

Soon the two sailors bob to shore and declare themselves marooned on what Bob is sure is a deserted island.

"Dessert?" says Joss. He slurps the juice from an apparent fallen coconut, while Bob stews over building a shelter for the night. A rain storm passes through. He's all wet! He misses his mom. And there are no video games.

"I hate this place! There's nothing to eat."

Then Joss returns from a beachcombing trip with several luscious-looking fruit kabobs. He seems strangely sanguine about their prospects and natters on about the wonderful waves while Bob frets over their fate. Then Joss strolls off and returns with some bottled water and beach towels--and snorkels and swim fins! Suddenly, Bob begins to wonder what's with all this bountiful flotsam and jetsam.

By this time, savvy readers will have figured that the boys are shipwrecked on the same island from which they sailed, and Joss has been scrounging supplies from the friendly resort staff nearby, in Peter McCleery's cheery castaway tale, Bob and Joss Get Lost! (Harper, 2017). The fun of this odd couple's banter is heightened by Vin Vogel's lighthearted comical illustrations of the two adventurers roughing it, and as an added touch older readers can plot their circular course from their GPS locations on each left-hand page. And once the two salvaged sailors check in at their resort, Bob is once more bored--promising perhaps more Bob and Joss adventures to come.

Kirkus Reviews celebrates "...this clever home-away-from-home arc with a go-with-the-flow twist..."