Comments on Saffron Tree: Once Upon a Banana

I've never read your blog before, but my kids love...

2008-11-18T11:22:00.000-08:00

I've never read your blog before, but my kids love this book. We've taken it out from the library several times. It's incredibly creative and you can read through it quickly or leisurely.

Jennifer: It is such a pleasure and honor to see y...

2008-05-01T14:52:00.000-07:00

Jennifer: It is such a pleasure and honor to see your comment here. The signs in the book do deserve special mention, especially because of the dimension they add to the humor and yes, my son was delighted to see familiar road signs. Thank you for bringing us such a delightful read.

Thanks for a nice review, but I do take exception ...

2008-04-30T05:26:00.000-07:00

Thanks for a nice review, but I do take exception to the description of this book as "wordless." The construction of this story was a really complicated matter, and I organized the signs and the descriptions of this cascading chaos with great care. The signs are the text, and the images carry the action. David Small brought the whole thing to life in a way that most illustrators could never manage. There isn't any dialogue, that's true, and there's no narration, that's true, but there are words! Kids very often learn to read by noticing signs, so this book has the kind of text that matches the reading environment of its audience.
Thanks again for a nice review!

km - that would be great if we can do a series. Tu...

2008-04-02T04:51:00.000-07:00

km - that would be great if we can do a series. Tulika's It's only a story is one such book that T reviewed.

Laura Numeroff's - If you give a mouse a cookie series too are pretty good - one thing triggering the other...

anecdote: First grade students at K's elementary school had a project in which they had to develop on stories like these - each kid was given a title - "If you bring a puppy to school" for instance...Kids had to develop each of the story, and they were all such creative ideas...

K gets a kick outa coming with title ideas for these kind..
If you give an alligator some apple juice and If you give a crocodile some carrots are two that I remember very vividly! :-)))

Motherreader: thank you for your comment! nice to ...

2008-03-31T10:50:00.000-07:00

Motherreader: thank you for your comment! nice to meet fellow fans of this book :)

Praba: yes, and now I am in search of more such books, if I find them will do a series here on ST.

Thnks KM for a great recommendation. The domino/ri...

2008-03-31T07:06:00.000-07:00

Thnks KM for a great recommendation. The domino/ripple effect kinda books are always fun aren't they?

Thanks Motherreader for stopping by! Love your blog! (& of course, Mo Williems too!) ;-) Can't forget Knufflebunny and all his pigeon books...Need to check out the sequel that you've recommended.

I totally love this book. It is such fun to share ...

2008-03-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

I totally love this book. It is such fun to share with a child and look for the sequence of events as they transpire. I'm not usually a wordless book fan - I love the sound of my own voice as I read aloud ;^) - but I thought this one was very clever.