What happens in the story
Kitty and Dino are walking through the forest when they hear crying. They find Bobo, a baboon with golden-brown fur, sitting alone on a rock with an old stone tablet covered in marks nobody can read.
Bobo’s grandma is very sick. The tablet is supposed to show the way to a healing waterfall, but the marks are too worn to make out. So the three of them start trying things. Kitty blows the dust off with a gust of wind, and a few marks appear. Dino tries growing plants to match the shapes, and it just doesn’t work. That’s the part where they almost give up.
Then Dino tries his heat, and right at sunset, the whole tablet lights up into a glowing map: a mountain, a river, a waterfall. They follow it together, with Dino growing a trail of glowing moss so nobody gets lost, until a wall of vines blocks the path. Dino parts them and finds a crack just big enough to squeeze through, into a crystal cave that leads, at last, to the waterfall itself, glowing blue and ringed with plants none of them have seen before.
Bobo fills a small pot with the water and carries it home. His grandma gets better. And before they leave, Bobo puts the tablet right back where he found it, by the waterfall, in case someone else needs to find their own way there one day.
What your child learns
Every idea in this book is one of Kitty and Dino’s oldest: help the friend right in front of you, even a total stranger, even when you don’t yet know how.
Bobo’s story leans hardest on teamwork. Kitty’s wind clears the tablet. Dino’s plants don’t crack the code, but his heat does. Nobody solves it alone, and nobody’s gift is the “main” one. That’s a good thing for a kid to sit with, especially one who’s decided he’s “not the smart one” or “not the strong one” in some group at school.
There’s also a quiet lesson in not giving up after something fails. Dino’s plant idea doesn’t work, and for a second, the story lets that sting a little before the next idea comes along. Kids don’t always get to see that part in stories. Usually the hero just tries the right thing on the first try.
And under all of it: taking care of family, and the small, generous choice Bobo makes at the very end, leaving the map for the next person who’ll need it just as badly as he did.
Perfect for
- ✓ A cozy, gentle bedtime read with a bit more adventure than most nights
- ✓ Kids working through a “that didn’t work, now what” moment of their own
- ✓ A family that’s ever pulled together to help someone through a hard week
- ✓ Reading aloud together, ages 3 to 8
Quick answers
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