Room for Three: Two stories in one book. Start from either cover. (Bob & Otto)

A rope has two ends. The middle was always for you.

Two stories in one book: read it forward and it is Bob's story; turn it over and read it back - the same pages, the same words - and it is Otto's.

A new girl arrives at school. At recess Bob sees Otto with her and counts: two. Two is a pair, so he walks to the wall on his own. What he did not see was what Otto had been telling her all morning: "Bob is my best friend. You have to meet Bob."

A picture book for ages 4 to 8, about the arithmetic children do in a playground - counting who is with whom, and deciding there is no room for them. Read the other way, it is a whole day of asking about Bob. One question to ask at the end - what was Otto doing all morning?

Opens and closes on the same line: There's always room for you.

Book 3 of Bob & Otto, by Jesper K. Lassen. From VEN Method - social-emotional learning that builds connection and community in classrooms and at home.

Jesper K. Lassen has been on a stage since he was seven years old. He is a mentalist - more than a thousand performances, and his own documentary series on Danish national television. He is the founder of VEN Method, a social-emotional learning company built on one idea: connection is something children can be taught, and most of us were left to pick it up by luck. VEN Method builds connection and community in classrooms and at home - a whole group around one shared thing, in place of individual screen time. He wrote the Bob and Otto books so the youngest readers could practice the same thing on paper, with a grown-up: hear one side, turn the book over, hear the other, and ask. Jesper K. Lassen is Danish. VEN Method is based in Texas.