Bananas

With whimsical, bright illustrations and a humorous tone, Bananas! will show you how a banana (not on a tree), what animals eat bananas (not just monkeys), how bananas make the long journey from the plantation to your breakfast table (very carefully), and much more. Banana recipes, jokes, silly song titles, and even a limerick are also included.

School Library Journal

Gr 2-4-A great deal of interesting and accurate information about the ever-popular fruit is presented in blocks of text bordered by bamboo frames, set on white pages filled with illustrations. Primary-grade readers can learn how bananas grow, their many varieties (over 500), how they are shipped and stored, their history, animals that enjoy them, and their nutritional value. Simple recipes, such as one for making banana splits; jokes and riddles; and even a few amusing bits of trivia are appended. The tone is breezy, conversational, and cheerful, and the layout is lively. The cartoon illustrations are humorous, colorful, and explanatory, showing children and adults of many ethnic and cultural backgrounds and a few different historical periods. Farmer covers some of the same material as George Ancona's Bananas: From Manolo to Margie (Clarion, 1990), which focuses on the growing and shipping of bananas, but her book is broader in its coverage and aimed at younger readers.-Marian Drabkin, Richmond Public Library, CA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|