Banana Blitz

by Florence Parry Heide

Television and candy bar addict Jonah, arriving at Fairlee School, thinks his problems will be over if he can just win the prize offered by the American Banana Institute for watching its commercials.

Genres: Childrens

119 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

"What do I like about writing for children? Everything," says Florence Parry Heide, the award-winning author of more than sixty children’s books, including the classic THE SHRINKING OF TREEHORN, illustrated by Edward Gorey. "I like the connection with children," the author says. "I like the connection with all kinds of book people. And I like the connection with my childhood self, which is the most of me. It is the most welcome and familiar of worlds. There miracles abound--indeed it is magical that something I might think of can be put into words, stories, ideas, and that those words end up in the heads of readers I will never meet."

Florence Parry Heide wrote SOME THINGS ARE SCARY, a humorous look at childhood bugaboos, more than thirty years ago. "I had finished another book and was in the mood to write something else," she says. "I decided to get some kindling from the garage, reached into the kindling box and--good grief!--grabbed something soft and mushy. I fled back to the house, scared to death." A brave return visit to the kindling box revealed the object of terror to be nothing more than a discarded wet sponge, but the thought remained: some things are scary. As she recalls, "What scared me as a child was that I’d never learn how to be a real grownup--and the fact is, I never did find out how it goes."


One thing Florence Parry Heide does have a good handle on is the concept of friendship, in all its humorous manifestations. THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR, a tongue-in-cheek tale cowritten with Sylvia Van Clief in 1967, pokes at the tendency of well-meaning friends to offer advice instead of help, and presents a valuable lesson about what true friendship means. "One of my many (true) sayings is ‘A new friend is around the corner of every single day,’ " the author declares. "Also true: Friendships last. And last."


Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Florence Parry Heide worked in advertising and public relations in New York City before returning to Pittsburgh during World War II. After the war, she and her husband moved to Wisconsin, where they raised five children, two of whom have cowritten critically acclaimed books with their mother. Florence Parry Heide now lives in Wisconsin.

Reviews

[Cade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nostalgic reread of the sequel to Banana Twist. I still can't imagine what made these two books so memorable, but I love them. Thank you interlibrary loan.

[Samuel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book happened to be on one of our shelves at home, and I read it while I was waiting around for something. (It's a quick read -- it might have taken half an hour to finish.)

Honestly, I didn't find it compelling. Our narrator is kind of obnoxious, his roommate is the kind of character with no reality to him, and the wafer-thin plot has precious little depth. All of this would be fine if it were a Daniel Pinkwater-style excursion into madness, but even ten-year-old me would have struggled to find this particularly funny.

That might have been different if I'd read the first book in the sequence, but alas, this is the only one in our house. I'm curious about what went on in volume one, but not curious enough to seek it out.

[Lucinda Thurston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange but couldn’t put it down! I enjoyed reading this book. Took 3 separate sittings during 1 day! Deffinetly worth it

[Austin Calico · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved it as a kid. Upon rereading it, still like the voice, but do find it a bit of a simple storyline.

[Edith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un de mes livres préférés au primaire.