Why the Banana Split: Adventures in Idioms

by Rick Walton, Jimmy Holder

Teachers and parents know that teaching is more effective when kids are having fun. Rick Walton’s Language Adventures Series combines entertainment and education with eight newly revised picture books that cleverly teach grammar and usage. Kids will love the silly stories, funny illustrations, and witty wordplay. Teachers and parents will love the new definitions at the beginning of the book and activities at the end that allow kids to apply what they’ve learned. Titles in the series include • Around the House, the Fox Chased the Adventures in Prepositions • Bullfrog Adventures in Verbs and Objects • Herd of Cows, Flock of Adventures in Collective Nouns • Just Me and 6,000 Adventures in Conjunctions • Once There Was a Bull . . . (Frog): Adventures in Compound Words • Pig Pigger Adventures in Comparing • Suddenly Adventures in Adverbs • Why the Banana Adventures in Idioms Rick Walton is the author of more than sixty children’s books, including this best-selling language arts series. His books have been featured on the IRA Children’s Choice list, Reading Rainbow, and CBS This Morning. More than 150,000 copies sold! So why did the banana split? Well, for the same reason that the jackhammers hit the road, the lettuce headed out, and the jump ropes skipped town. It was even enough to make the baseball players strike out. Here's a it's bigger than a breadbox. And named Rex. With Jimmy Holder's sly illustrations bringing every pun to life, Rick Walton's verbal deftness will leave readers splitting too-their sides.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Dinosaurs, Storytime

36 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Born and raised in Utah, Walton is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormon Church. He served as a missionary to Brazil from 1976 to 1978, soon after he graduated from high school. Later, at Brigham Young University, he became president of the Brazil Club. In 1980, he graduated from Brigham Young with a bachelor's degree in Spanish and a minor in Portuguese, the language spoken in Brazil.

Walton's education continued after he obtained his degree. In 1980, he went back to Brigham Young for one semester of graduate work in business, but chose not to follow that career path. Deciding to become a teacher, he earned certification in elementary education from Brigham Young in 1987, as well as certification to teach gifted and talented students. Up to that point, he had held a number of jobs, including a year with the parks and recreation department of Provo, Utah. In 1987, he began teaching sixth grade at a local public school, then switched to a private school.

Also interested in computers, Walton would later publish several items of software. He left teaching to accept a position as software designer for IBM in 1989. In 1994, he turned to freelance software design and writing. He also returned to Brigham Young University once again, this time to earn his master's degree in English, with an emphasis on creative writing.

Walton's wife, Ann, with whom he has written many of his books, is a computer programmer. They were married in 1983, and have five children. With Dumb Clucks! and Something's Fishy! in 1987, the Waltons began writing books.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this from the library today and have read it to 3 kids multiple times. So many puns, so many giggles, and so much fun.

[Suzanne Lorraine Kunz Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a witty book on ways filled with idioms and ways to leave.

Talking Points: What would you do if you saw a dinosaur walking towards you? Do we sometimes prejudge people without getting to know them? Who did you dislike first that you later liked? How did that change happen? Do you tend to judge quickly when meeting people or do you tend to reserve judgment until you know people better? Are your first impressions of people usually right or wrong?

Essential Oil Pairing Tip - I'm choosing doTERRA's Thinker as the pairing for this book. Because sometimes we need to think of ways to get away, and sometimes we need to think about the logic and how we feel about coming back.

[Melissa Namba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Far more clever than I expected. So many plays on words and turns of phrase that it is a fun book for adults to read as well as kids. Also a nice book for a high school English teacher to have a class analyze!

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny story full of idioms and double meanings. Great illustrations.

[Ashley Zink · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're older, this book is cringe-worthy. If you're younger, you might not get all the word play. This wacky book would be ideal for older elementary school children. 3rd-5th

[Jeremiah Scanlan · Rating 4 out of 5]

can't tell if the banana is racist, but that was fun

[Della Tingle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cutest little book chock full of idioms! ❤️ A super book for ANY classroom in which figurative language is explored!

[Kelly Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute book

[Aisha Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the cutest books I have read in awhile. Very pun-ny and would be a great addition to a classroom.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

When something strange cones to town all the animals and things split town in curious and funny fashions. Preschool and up

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute book! Great play on words. Perfect for those young readers learning words and their meanings.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

The text has funny puns and the style is of loose animation sketches; everything is alive, down to silly faces in the water to make the water personified - times when its taken a bit too far. I like the idea of the images being this loose, but I think sometimes the images weren't thought through very carefully because of it. Every character has an exclamation point in his depiction, and they don't become special for repeat viewings - with everything light, it lacks some punch that would have come from a focal point. SOlution to story comes as a surprise at the end, a method often used in the books without any foreshadowing, but in this case goes with the "joke" style of the whole story.

[Keegan Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Of the Rick Walton books I've read this was my least favorite. The disconnect starts on the first page after reading the title-- Why the Banana Split. I feel like the banana should be the main character, but really the dinosaur is the driving character and the banana is just one of many characters and they don't stand out to me as important. Anyway, the illustrations are fun and I really liked the use of cliched phrases because the point is to use them as much as possible and I thought that was fun, though I did think some worked better than others. But still, the bananas . . . just disappointing when I was looking for more focus on them. Silly perhaps, but still true.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny and a great way for kids to learn word play, double entendre, and idiomatic phrases common to our language but depicted literally. Love this book; we had so much fun reading it and watching the kids gradually "get" the humor. Parents and kids of all ages will enjoy it.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a very cute, creative book. The illustrations were a lot of fun to look at. The main thing I didn't like was the ending. It was kind of dumb and cheesy and I didn't understand the part about the bananas.

[JaNeal · Rating 5 out of 5]

My little boy asks for this over and over again. That's in spite of the fact that I'm sure he doesn't get all the plays of language that Rick pulls off. This is Walton word work at its best--a little zany and always clever.

[Jeri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great way to teach/talk about puns. A dinosaur comes to town and scares all of the other characaters and "the trees took their leaves," "the astronauts took off," "the banana split," etc. Cute ending and a fun book.

[LL · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read full of puns. My 7 year old thinks it is hilarious. My 4 year old doesn't get it and my 5 year old peppers me with questions the whole time. A fun book, if you have the patience to explain it to them.

[Char · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was the first book I gave my oldest nephew that made him laugh and laugh. he would beg for it to be read over and over.

[Chantel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rick Walton uses language beautifully and in a way that catches the reader's attention. The illustrations make us laugh out loud!

[Sheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute take on picture books and silly. Good choice for research how to write easy picture books.

[Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great play on words book

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny book! It might be fun to make our own book of silly idioms, with zany pictures to go with them, like this book has.

[Reidun Bures · Rating 4 out of 5]

idioms

[Kellee Moye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great idiom, homonym and homophone book. I really liked the illustrations of this one and the sweet story.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Rex comes to town, everyone leaves... the jump ropes skip town, the astronaunts take off, the bananas split... Fun wordplay!

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun story with lots of picture/word play. Some of it was a little far-stretched, but that brought it character.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars This books is a total play on words...and it is fun to read. I don't love the pictures but it was still a fun read!

[Jody Kyburz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great little picture book to teach puns (figurative language). My fifth graders loved it!

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great pun book.