Once upon a Banana (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Once upon a Banana Deborah Stevenson Armstrong, Jennifer Once upon a Banana; illus. by David Small. Simon, 200644p ISBN 0-689-84251-1$16.95 R* 5-8 yrs This cleverly crafted picture book follows a domino-fall sequence of mishaps around a city block. It all starts when a performer's monkey bolts, grabbing a banana from a produce stand and carelessly discarding the peel; a dismounted motorcyclist slips on the peel and bounces off the bottom of a painter's ladder, the painter plummets into a passing shopping cart and caroms off a barber pole, the barber pole falls and pulls leashes out of the dog-walker's hands. Subsequent events involve a speeding biker, an unattended skateboard, gray-suited officials from City Hall, an eager baby in a loose buggy, and a stinky dump truck, which accumulate in a crescendo of chaos that resolves into a happy confluence of tied-up ends (everybody is reunited with their charges, pets, and vehicles) and banana-eating participants. This is a mesmerizing mosaic of effervescent disaster, and David Small has managed to treat it as visual nonsense, ensuring that the absurdity operates within an understandable if upendable structure (a helpful map tracing the route of the ripples of disaster appears on the closing endpaper). His smoky, elastic lines have a circus-worthy flexibility with a touch of sardonic humor, and he tucks in extra jokes at several junctures (the signposters, for instance, are Laurel and Hardy). Though this initially looks to be a wordless book, careful perusal reveals that each page contains a sign prominently posted, and the signs come in couplets ("4-Way Stop // Barber Shop"), an element that adds pleasure for kids just embarking on reading without being vital [End Page 162] to understanding the glorious chain of unraveling. Viewers need to make sure to start from the beginning, since the story opens on the front endpapers, but they'll relish the pandemonium and enjoy hunting through the pages to explore all the signs of impending and previous wrecks. Copyright © 2006 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois