GORILLAS GO BANANAS

This baby gorilla’s hungry, but he’s awfully picky; what does he want?

“Look up and you’ll see ’em, high in the trees… / Bright yellow bunches in ones, twos, and threes.” The gorillas gather bananas for dinner, but first Baby needs a bath. Then Daddy swings in with a special treat! It’s a grilled peanut-butter–and-banana sandwich (an Elvis A. Presley, natch). “That little gorilla pops out a pink tongue. / He seems pretty picky for someone so young.” His parents guess he wants “something wild.” They try bananas au gratin, banana chips, banana tandoori, bananas flambé, even banana sushi rolls….Baby won’t touch them. His parents juice the fruits, bake ’em, and put them in fudge—all to no avail. With his parents exhausted on the floor, Baby grabs the last plain, untouched banana and gobbles it up! He never wanted anything fancy. Wensink and Wragg’s follow-up to Go Go Gorillas (2017) riffs neatly on the theme of the picky eater with a rhymed fable that’s a foodie fantasy. Bright dynamic illustrations, mostly full-bleed, crafted with acrylic and digital color swing through the jungle and the kitchen.

Little monkeys will enjoy the rhyme and maybe pick up some new food vocabulary…and so might their caregivers.