George & Lenny Are Always Together

George & Lenny Are Always Together by Jon Agee (Scallywag Press 2025) HB RRP $29.99 ISBN 9781836300311

Reviewed by Sylvia Forbes

George and Lenny are always together. And it's terrific. They are never alone. 

So, what happens when one of them decides it's time to try some alone time? 

Is there a way for them to be alone together?

I knew I was in for a treat the moment I saw the cover for George and Lenny Are Always Together - and I was not disappointed. These two characters are instantly endearing and once you open this book you cannot resist - you are on the journey to the end with them.

Best friends George, a big, soft, childlike bear - and Lenny - a questioning, analytical, little Rabbit, are having fun in a playground together. As they swing, Lenny asks George - I wonder what it feels like to be alone. 

To which George responds - Lonely I bet. And sad!

At first, George doesn't take Lenny's question too seriously and dismisses the idea, but Lenny seems determined to pursue it. And the more Lenny pursues it, the more resistant George becomes. To the point where Lenny says - Well George, I am going to find out. I am going to find a quiet place and be alone. To which George then replies - That's a crazy idea! I'd better come with you.  (I love George's innocent understanding of the concept of 'being alone' and how for him it's like 'alone' is just another place in which he and Lenny can be together.)

When Lenny finds his perfect alone spot, a little treehouse - with an entrance conveniently big enough for him to get inside - he embraces his newfound solitude with relish. I can draw! I can build! I can blow bubbles! Play music! Kick a ball! Read a book! I can even just sit and think. But then he thinks about George, and he seems suddenly unsure about being alone. He misses George and goes looking for him. The ending is a pure delight. 

The juxtaposition between these two characters is part of what makes this picture book so irresistible. Dialogue driven with minimal text and perfect illustrations, this story is so simple, so clever and so utterly beguiling.

The illustrations - each element boldly outlined in black ink - and in a gorgeous colour palette made up of opposites - cool and warm - work hand in hand with the text. The images of the brown bear against an ice-blue monkey bar and the grey rabbit against a tangerine-coloured swing are striking and the impact of them are amped up further still because of the specific tones used.  

With every page turn, you find George and Lenny playing on various items of playground equipment - the backgrounds are completely blank with no horizons (apart from when you see Lenny in the treehouse), and are of a single colour (moving from ivory, to caramel to charcoal - perhaps suggesting the deepening light during the span of a day).

I love that the playground has no actual setting - it's a universal playground that readers can imagine to be anywhere in the world. 

Despite the overall minimalistic nature of this book, it is not at all stark. Or void of feeling and emotion. Quite the opposite. The expressions on George and Lenny's faces, and in their body language - so eloquently captured - so vibrantly alive - say it all. The joyful, the cheeky, the happy, the sad, the huffy - and that poignant goodbye.

 

I found myself smiling a lot reading this. Smiles of appreciation and admiration. Smiles for the sweetness, and the adorableness of it all. Smiles for the way that it feels so relatable and smiles for the pure smartness of the story. 

 

George & Lenny Are Always Together highlights the importance of together time and alone time. Of finding and maintaining that delicate and necessary balance between the two. It's that sweet spot in relationships - of having (and allowing) just enough me-time in a place that's not too far away. 

 

Sweetly absurd and delightfully silly - this picture book has been skilfully crafted into a  richly satisfying - full of heart - story that will appeal to all ages. (3 – 99 years).

Highly recommended.