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What's a Banana?

ebook
97 of 97 copies available
97 of 97 copies available

What can you do with a banana? You can grip it, unzip it, squeeze it, freeze it— you can even play it like a flute! With a little imagination and a sense of humor, you can transform it into anything! Turn the ordinary into the extraordinary with these charming picture books that encourage readers to look at the world in a new—more magical—way.

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    • Kirkus

      June 1, 2016
      Two award winners pair wordplay and food play.In very simple illustrations, Pizzoli, who won the Geisel Medal for The Watermelon Seed (2013), gives two children of color pets, basic props, and bananas to employ as Singer, winner of a Cybil Award for Mirror, Mirror, illustrated by Josee Masse (2010), directs. "You can grip it / and unzip it. / Smash and mash it with a spoon. // You can trace it. / Outer-space it-- / make believe that it's the moon." Eventually, though, after toting it, floating it, and pretending it's a flute, she suggests one more way to enjoy it: "Don't forget that it's a fruit!" Likewise, in the co-published What's an Apple? a brown-skinned lad and a blonde, white playmate "pick" and "kick" apples, "snuggle," "juggle," and "bob," but also slice, dip in caramel, and make the fruit into a pie. The final scene, in which the children, dressed in vacuum suits, exchange apples on the lunar surface, rather begs the closing claim that "You can eat it anyplace." But children, at least, will find chopped logic a bland, dry alternative to the juicy rhymes and sweet subject matter. Quick but savory fare, both sonic and visual, for pre- or newly independent readers. (Picture book. 3-5)

      COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • School Library Journal

      August 1, 2016

      PreS-Gr 1-Young children and their pets use their imagination in these rhythmic stories about the fun that can be had with everyday objects like a piece of fruit. Pizzoli gives readers colorful cartoon illustrations that match Singer's simple, rhyming texts. In the first title, children use bananas in a variety of innovative ways: "You can share it./You can wear it-/it's a funny yellow hat!/You can squeeze it./You can freeze it./Please don't throw it at the cat." In the second book, the different ways to eat and play with an apple are described in the same type of singsong rhyme: "You can pick it./You can kick it./You can throw away the core./You can toss it./You can sauce it./You can roll it on the floor." Each selection ends with a proclamation that the item is a fruit and we should eat it, but readers will enjoy the creative uses of the fruit more than the nutritional advice. VERDICT These are recommended additions to any picture book collection, as they will delight parents and young children and catch the interest of newly independent readers.-Kristen Todd-Wurm, Middle Country Public Library, NY

      Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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  • English

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