Learning the Hard Way! Koko and Bo by Lisen Adbage

Koko is in his contrary phase!

They've has been at the playground for four hours. The sun is sinking low. Bo declares it's time they go home.

"I DON'T WANT TO," SAYS KOKO.

"DON'T THEN," SAYS BO.

Bo goes inside, but when it begins to get dark, there's a ring at the doorbell.

Koko has found it boring outside and rather lonely.

After dinner and puzzles and snacks, Bo announces that it is bedtime. Koko says NO!

"STAY HERE THEN," SAYS BO.

Not surprisingly, Koko finds his way to bed eventually. But when morning comes and the well-rested Bo declares it's time to get up, Koko says he doesn't want to.

"STAY IN BED THEN!" SAYS BO.

Koko persists in staying in bed while Bo enjoys a leisurely breakfast and gets all her morning chores done.

At last hunger drives Koko to get up. His oatmeal has gotten cold, but by then, it tastes pretty good. Then Bo declares it's time to go out for groceries, but when a raincoat is suggested, Koko says NO!

After a rainy bike ride to the grocery, Koko complains of being cold. Luckily, Bo has an extra sweater. And when Koko declines to sit in the grocery cart seat, Koko watches him wander off, ready to rescue him when the store manager has to announce a woeful missing child over the loudspeaker.

"Experience keeps a dear school," said Benjamin Franklin's famous saying, and Bo is clearly letting Koko learn a few things the hard way, in Lisen Adbage's Koko and Bo (Enchanted Lion Books, 2018). Adbage's storytelling is simple, spare, and pointedly predictable, letting her funny illustrations and book design make the case for letting kids learn to take sensible advice even if they have to experience a few consequences in Franklin's "dear school.""Sublime," says Kirkus Reviews. "The author's choice to present life without lecturing shows uncommon respect for her readers."