Banana! (review)

This nearly wordless picture book, first published in Great Britain, features two monkeys, two words, and one banana. When a monkey sees his friend with a banana and calls out a request to him, the friend refuses to share the coveted banana until Monkey One uses the magic word ("Please?"). Expecting then to share the banana, the friend is surprised and a little ticked off when the first monkey takes off with the item. The original banana owner then asks nicely himself, and, in the end, the two monkeys share the banana and do a happy monkey dance together. The plot is somewhat reminiscent of Willems' The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! (BCCB 7/04), but the streamlined text brings its own fascination. Especially noteworthy are the bold graphic illustrations: the digitally scrawled figures are oversized, and in each spread they're set against a different field of solid color, from chartreuse to shocking red to bright turquoise. The monkeys themselves have skinny little legs, extra-long arms and tails, and striped sweaters, one red and one blue so that viewers can differentiate between them. Their faces are remarkably expressive, showing a range of emotions from frustration to desperation to fury as the question of who gets the banana grows ever more pressing. This would be a lively title to share in a toddler storytime, but its simplicity and illustratively conveyed plot make it an enjoyable work for youngsters to to pore over solo.