Windfall! Pine & Boof: The Lucky Leaf by Ross Buroch

Boof the Bear has a tendency to fixate on found objects.

Sometimes Boof the Bear finds treasures left by campers.

But his favorite find was...

... his lucky red leaf. They did everything together.

But fall is an unsettling time for a bear...

and one windy day. . . .

Well, you know the ways of wind and fallen leaves. But Boof the Bear is devastated by his loss.

Enter Pine the Porcupine.

There are two things you should know about Pine. He is always looking for adventure.

He is not always looking where he is going.

OOF! Pine runs smack into Boof, following his wayward leaf. Pine wants to help Boof with his search, but while his ideas are proactive, they are not always productive. He spots the leaf resting on the snout of a sleeping boar and brags that he's an expert is sneaking up on scary critters. But it turns out... he's not! With the boar right behind them, he advises Boof to speed up the chase by swinging across the river on a vine, not noticing that the vine is no vine. It's a snake!

Ahhhhhhhhh!

Gee! That didn't go so well, either, in Ross Buroch's new tale of a pair of unlikely pals who forge a bond in mutual pursuit of a red leaf, a hopelessly ephemeral talisman at best, in Pine & Boof: The Lucky Leaf (Harper, 2017) Boof is a bit of a goof, and Pine is bit of a provocateur who is only too glad to butt in with an impromptu plan for every occasion, but together they are an unlikely couple of friends who bond in the pursuit, another odd couple of friends like Milne's Pooh and Piglet, Lobel's Frog and Toad or Becker's Bear and Mouse. Buroch's clever illustrations keep the zany pair front and center with just enough slapstick fun to keep kids turning the pages. Says Kirkus Reviews, "A predictable yet humorous origin story for an endearing pair."