The children of Ontario get a chance every year to vote for their favourite Canadian picture book from the Ontario Library Association’s list of nominees. Some of my most beloved books are from this category and as a teacher I’ve used them countless times. The two books featured in this blog both demonstrate the fantastic imaginations of writers and illustrators. Plus, these books both feature humour as a literary device to make these stories unforgettable.
The Boy Who Loved Bananas by George Elliott; illustrated by Andrej Krystoforski
2006 Winner of the Blue Spruce Award
Matthew loves the monkeys at the Metro Zoo so he decides to be like them and only eat bananas. Suddenly he feels an itchy sensation and he turns into a monkey. His parents try all kinds of interventions but everyone says Matthew will stop being a monkey when he wants to stop. He gets up to many types of mischief while he is a monkey, including influencing all the kids at school to eat bananas. The principal joins the trend too! The story ends with Matthew switching to peanuts and he is pictured sitting at his desk in his classroom as an elephant!
This book is a terrific story starter for shared, partner or independent writing. To analyse the writing style we realize that the story can be broken down into parts:
*The main character is introduced and is shown to love the animal he is going to turn into;
*The reader must suspend their disbelief and accept that the main character “transmogrifies” into an animal;
*The main character visits many practitioners but cannot be cured;
*The parents learn to accept their child the way he is;
*Just when we think he will become human again, the main character changes into something else that he likes.
Using The Boy Who Loved Bananas as an example we can emphasize that there is no harmful violence in the story. The type of humour is quite silly and uses exaggeration such as Matthew climbing the flag pole or the principal eating bananas under his desk. When students are creating their own story, they can also use exaggeration to add humour to their ideas.
It is possible to go a step further and have students add detailed illustrations to their work. Look carefully through the original book and notice how the other characters’ facial expressions show their reaction to what is happening.
Having students create books with illustrations is a terrific project. It helps them understand the publishing process and they end up with a wonderful creation. The stories could be put on display in the class library so that they can read each other’s work. I have found that when we send these books home, many families treasure a book created by their child.
If Kids Ruled the World by Linda Bailey; illustrated by David Huyck
2016 Winner of the Blue Spruce Award
Similarly, If Kids Ruled the World asks us to suspend our disbelief and imagine the world with children in charge. The story stresses the fun and silly antics that would occur in this situation and as you can imagine, kids absolutely love it. The illustrations add a tremendous amount of humour to the story as we see multiple characters on each page acting out everything from unusual pets like giraffes and ostriches to bubble fun in a swimming pool to a trampoline sidewalk.
This story would make a wonderful lead up to an art lesson where each student illustrates their answer to the question: What funny things could happen if kids ruled the world? Assembling all their work into one class book makes a very popular item in the class library.
Both of these books can be adapted easily for K-3. Depending on your students, you could use these stories with older students too. I have had success partnering with older students to create picture books as an assignment. These books are perfect examples to demonstrate how to use your imagination and humour to create a hilarious and unforgettable story.
Happy Reading, Writing and Drawing!
Brenda
