Perhaps you’ve seen this video that has made the rounds of social media on a couple of occasions.
It brings a smile to may face, as do two books about an unlikely friendship Buddy and Earl and Buddy and Earl Go Exploring written by Maureen Fergus and illustrated by Carey Sookocheff.
In the first book, Buddy and Earl, we are introduced to the pair. Buddy is a dog, bored alone at home, whose curiosity is piqued when a mysterious box arrives at his house.
When, in the course of his investigation, Buddy finds out that the object onside talks, he is even more curious.
“Hello! cried Buddy. “My name is Buddy!”
“Hello, ” said the thing in a muffled voice. “My name is Earl.”
“I see,” said Buddy. “And what are you, Earl?”
“I’m a race car,” said Earl.
Buddy studied Earl carefully.
Then he said, “You do not have a steering wheel. You do not have wheels. I do not think you are a race, car Earl.”
From there their roles are established: Earl is the jokester and Buddy the serious sidekick, not opposed to having some fun.
In the second book, Earl uses his imagination to take Buddy on a nighttime exploration of the house.
They know they have to be quiet, lest the hairy ogre, who sounds a lot like Dad, hears them. In language reminiscent of Anne Shirley, the ordinary becomes extraordinary. In Earl’s hands, Buddy’s water bowl in the shadow of the trash can becomes “a silvery lake in the shadow of a great mountain”.
Although written for younger readers, older ones will still find these unlikely friends endearing.
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