Benny the Bananasaurus Rex

February 15, 2023
A young Inuit boy loves bananas so much he eventually becomes one. There's no doubt that bananas are Benny's absolute favorite food. The boy, who wears a T. rex costume wherever he goes, gobbles up banana pancakes for breakfast, rides a bicycle with a banana seat, and even eats his tacos with fried bananas and hot banana peppers. Benny eats so much of his beloved yellow fruit over weeks and months that one morning he wakes up to find he's transformed into a bananasaurus rex. In many of the images, Benny can be seen wearing his patched-up, well-loved dino suit. In others he is drawn as an actual dinosaur, complete with a hungry mouth full of teeth, hitting maximum appeal for fans of the Cretaceous critter. The illustrations are charming, especially the impressive bananasaurus rex, its arms made of a peeling banana, its tail the stem. The book's silliness is its strength; it will certainly reach imaginative little readers who might themselves be obsessed with a particular creature, costume, or food. Brown-skinned, brown-haired Benny uses the Inuktitut words for mother (Anaana) and grandmother (Anaanatsiaq), asking his Anaanatsiaq about the word for banana. An opening letter to readers explains these Inuktitut words, their uses in the book, and how to pronounce them. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Deliciously playful and imaginative. (Picture book. 3-6)

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