Bobby Baboon's Banana Be-Bop

PreS-Gr 3—Each gently humorous story in this series emphasizes a specific letter of the alphabet. This volume, written by Barbara deRuberts and illustrated by R. W. Alley, deals with the letter "B." Bobby Baboon is on his way to school with a tub of bananas. He meets other animal kids along the way—a badger, a bear, and a buffalo. They figure out how many bananas are needed for the class and how many are extra. The math aspect of the story is quite simple, but a nice touch. The message of working together and sharing is also worthwhile. It should be noted that the story focuses not just on alliteration, but on how the letter "B" sounds at the beginning, middle, and end of a word. Alley's bright watercolor-and-ink illustrations are appealing and suit the story well. The author reads the story with a smile in her voice, and emphasizes the bounty of bouncing "B's" in the book. Audio quality is excellent. Teachers will like using the series to enrich student understanding of letter sounds, and listeners will enjoy it for the story as well.—Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary, Federal Way, WA