Wolfie & Fly by Cary Fagan illustrated by Zoe Si

The box was in the basement. ... On the side was the name of the refrigerator brand, Super Cool. ... She lay down beside the box. Lying down was also good for helping her think.
I know! she thought. A submarine!

I have talked about this on other occasions. We are so lucky here in Australia to have access to books from around the world and because we speak English we can find books from UK, USA, NZ and in this case from Canada.  The real trick is in discovering books from far away.

This little gem Wolfie and Fly has just 85 pages and so there is no excuse - you need to pick this up and read it now. I timed myself and it only took 15 minutes to read the whole book. There are lots of illustrations and a larger print size making this is a perfect little beginning novel.

Wolfie (real name Renata) is so named because she is a lone wolf.

"Renata didn't have any friends.
Not even one.
Did this bother her? No it did not.
Renata didn't want any friends. She thought other kids were annoying. Other kids whined or talked too much or told stupid jokes or wanted to play boring games. Other kids weren't interested in the same things as Renata. They just got in the way."

I guess you know how this is going to end.  Renata clearly needs a special friend. Luckily the boy next door is perfect. He is unstoppable, energetic, imaginative and also in need of a friend.  Livingston Flott is known as Fly.

"Because I buzz around and annoy people. But I look at it in a positive way. I mean, a fly is persistent. A fly is a survivor. You can call me Fly if you say it in a nice way."

Together these unlikely friends make a submarine and set off on an underwater adventure complete with a lost baseball, funny songs, clown fish, home made scuba gear and a real pirate. You can read a more plot details in this review.

I would compare this book with the Frog and Toad series, Mouse and Mole series and Bonny Becker's bear series.  You could also use The Tunnel by Anthony Brown for a discussion about the importance of using your imagination.

This delightful story is a wonderful celebration of the power of the imagination. It turns out that having, and using, ones imagination can make all kinds of wonderful things happen. It turns out that having an adventure in a big cardboard box submarine can even make a lone wolf decide that being alone isn’t always a good thing. Through the looking Glass Review

Here is book two from this new series: