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SWEET,
SWEET
FIG BANANA
illustrated
by Fritz Millevoix
Whitman,
1996
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*CLASP
Américas
Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature, commended title
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A little
about the book--and a recipe:
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In St. Thomas, where I live, I worked as
school librarian in an elementary school near Market Square. I would
see one of the students hanging out after school with his mother. She
was a market lady who sold lottery tickets, fruit, and candies from a
jar. That scene planted the seed for this story. I also had the joyful
experience of watching banana plants grow in our yard. Unfortunately,
right before this book came out, the islands were hit by a gigantic
hurricane named Marilyn. The storm knocked down all of our banana
plants--and blew our roof away, too. But that story has a happy ending.
After we got a new roof, we planted new bananas, sweet fig bananas, our
favorite kind.
Everybody says an apple a day keeps the doctor
away. So does a banana! What a beautiful fruit! But if you end up with
too many bananas, try drinking them:
BANANA
LECHOSA
(a milkshake)
1 cup low fat
milk
1/3 to 1/2 cup
banana
dash vanilla
dash cinnamon
Blend in
blender until smooth.
If you happen to have ripe papaya, try this
with payaya instead of banana, and add 1 teaspoon sugar. After it’s
blended, payaya lechosa gets thicker and thicker. If it sits for
awhile, it gets too thick to drink! (But you can eat it with a spoon,
like custard.) A papaya and banana combo is best of all.
If you still have too many bananas, you can
always peel and freeze them.
Cut-up frozen bananas work fine when you make lechosa.
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| From the reviews: |
“Gershator pens a sweet, sweet tale....” Kirkus
“With its rhythmic cadences, dialect, and exotic details, this story
offers a pleasant slice of island life.” School Library Journal
“Both story and art are alive with the flavor of the islands....the
pictures shimmer with the azure blues of sea and sky, the verdant
greens of the trees, and the brilliant oranges, purples, and roses of
the flowers. No matter where they live, children will understand Soto
and feel close to him.” Booklist
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