The Banana Bunch and the Birthday Party

The Banana Bunch #1

by Harriet Ziefert, Fred Blunt (Illustrations)

The Banana Bunch, a kid-club, offers early-chapter readers a fun group of pals engaged in classic childhood escapades. In this easy-to-read book, the club-buddies throw a surprise birthday party for their dog, Scruffy. After cake and presents, Scruffy pays everyone back by finding a missing baseball during a game.

Genres: Childrens

72 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 2014

About the author

Harriet Ziefert grew up in North Bergen, New Jersey, where she attended the local schools. She graduated from Smith College, then received a Masters degree in Education from New York University.

For many years, Ziefert was an elementary school teacher. She taught most grades from kindergarten to fifth grade. "I liked it," she said, but she stopped teaching when she had her own sons. When her children were older, Ziefert wanted "a bigger arena" for her work. She went to work at a publishing company, Scholastic in New York City, developing materials for teacher's guides for kindergarten language arts and social studies programs.

"About twelve years ago," says Ziefert in a 1995 interview, "I tried to get a job as an editor, but no one would hire me as a trade editor. So I decided to write my own books." Since then, she has written several hundred books, mostly picture books and easy-to-read books. "I write books very quickly," she says, "in about twelve hours. I rewrite them three times over three days, and then they're done." She writes about twenty books a year.

Reviews

[Mary]

He story and pictures are fine but in an early chapter book the two need to match up. I found two places where the picture did not accurately reflect what was happening in the story (the picture showed one character doing an action but the words had a different characters name).

[Callie]

I really liked that Scruffy (the dog) had a cinnamon swirl cake.
It was awesome that the kids gave their dog a birthday party.
They played baseball with Scruffy and his new ball.

[Shannon]

Text and characters did not match up.

[Tima]

Six children and a dog make up the group called The Banana Bunch. It is Scruffy, the dog's, birthday and the children have planned a surprise birthday party for him. The reader is invited to join the bunch as they plan a special party for Scruffy. Each child adds his or her special touch to the party to make it fun for their favorite furry friend. The book begins with a picture of each person so the reader can identify them throughout the story. The chapters are short and the vocabulary fits for the intended age group. Colorful drawing type illustrations are on every page helping to tell the story. The book ends with some activities for the reader to help make some one's birthday special or that tie in with the story. The book is part of a series about The Banana Bunch and would work well with readers just getting into chapter books. My children enjoyed the fun elements of the story and loved the illustrations.

I received this book free of charge from Children's Lit in exchange for my honest review.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.