Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Gladys, a purple and blue gorilla, loves bananas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but one day she smells something delicious and leaves the zoo to find out what it is. As she follows her nose to a pizzeria, a French cafe, and an ice-cream stand, she samples various foods, but none of them matches the tantalizing aroma. Finally, she discovers that it is coming from a cart at the zoo that is selling banana bread. Done in bright acrylics, the vibrant cartoon illustrations show Gladys's progress out of her enclosure, past the zoo's front gate, through the restaurants and city streets, and back home by way of the zoo's rear entrance. She creates havoc all along the way, remaining totally oblivious to the two keepers undergoing various adventures as they chase after her. Large yellow bananas decorate the endpapers and add to the fun. This humorous book will tickle children and could also fit well into a unit on the five senses. A recipe for banana bread is appended.-Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Zoo gorilla Gladys tries unsuccessfully to find the source of a wonderful smell by sampling everything at a pizzeria, a French cafe, and an ice-cream stand. The weak punch line--the smell is banana bread being sold at a food cart--and the acrylics featuring a Day-Glo purple Gladys seem better suited to a comic strip than to a picture book. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Gladys is a gorilla (never mind that she's purple, for there is more color on these pages than a harlequin's Technicolor dream coat). Anderson's ape has a weakness for bananas--morning, noon and night--and her zookeepers always have great bunches at the ready. One day a smell, a delicious waft, tickles her nose, her curiosity and her appetite. So Gladys goes out to lunch, much to the consternation of her keepers. She follows the scent first to a pizzeria (tasty, but not want she's looking for), to a French cafe (fancy, but frog legs aren't really gorilla fare), to an ice-cream stand (15 flavors, all sampled), and finally to the source, the pot of gold: a banana-bread food cart. Like Gladys's bananas, Anderson's story is simple comfort food, with eye-candy artwork providing a welcome dash of spice. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
