Bob Goes Pop! by Marion Deuchars

Bob Goes Pop! is such a great title for this story of the rivalry between Bob and Roy, a new sculptor in town. Competition between the two birds intensifies throughout this colourful story until a large Pop! leads them to re-evaluate their behaviour and their relationship.

The Story: Owl tells Bob that there’s a new artist in town called Roy the Sculptor. Bob goes to meet Roy and Roy challenges him to make a sculpture. Roy’s sculptures are amazing and the challenge goes on for days. Disgruntled Bob takes a sneak peek in Roy’s workshop and comes up with a new idea. But what will Roy’s reaction to Bob’s sculpture be?

Both Bob and Roy have big egos and the challenges and rivalry intensify as the two birds produce more outlandish pop-art. Bob is jealous of Roy’s new fame in the town and his work suffers as he tries to prove his worth. The final straw comes when Roy accuses Bob of copying him but when both sculptures are destroyed in the subsequent fight, Bob repents and comes up with a solution to end their rivalry.

Bob and Roy’s competition leads to a range of emotions, many negative and mostly based on Bob’s jealousy. It takes the destruction of their art for Bob to see that he has been unkind and unwelcoming and leads him to suggest that the two birds should work together and share their talents rather than trying to outdo each other on their own. 

Bob Goes Pop! is told mostly in dialogue and has amazing bold, colourful illustrations on a predominantly white background. We love the style and layout and the pace in which dialogue and action goes backwards and forwards fuels the intensity of the competition.

Bob Goes Pop! is a fun story which can stimulate discussions about the ethics of copying, jealousy, rivalry, friendship and art. It also introduced my daughter to the concept of pop-art which led us to spend time researching the style. 

Age Range: 3+

Author / Illustrator: Marion Deuchars

Thank you to Laurence King for sending us a copy of Bob’s latest adventure. We’ll be looking out for his first two adventures now…