Books in Bananas series

A wacky story about a baboon who escapes from his safari park and crashes a partyBaboons can be so mean! When Alfie the baboon falls out with his best friend, Alfie thinks he'd be better off living with humans. After all, they're never mean and they never argue. Or do they? Children will respond to the mixture of mischief and mayhem, but the story also emphasizes the need to be a good friend and to make up after falling out.

Big Bad Wolf is Wilf Wolf's hero and Little Red Riding Hood is his favorite story, although pages are mysteriously missing from the end of the story. One day, on his way back from Wolfworths, Wilf meets a boy called Little Fred who has just been visiting his granny and who is wearing a red hood! Wilf can't believe his luck and plans to gobble Fred's granny, just like in the story! But when Wilf knocks on granny's door he gets a shock. Granny is six feet tall! She's the granny Little Fred visits on Saturday, not the small, tasty-looking one that Wilf saw on Thursday! Little Fred and his Saturday granny chase Wilf through the woods threatening to marmalise him! Poor Wilf! Time to find a new favorite book. How about The Three Little Pigs? This is a hilarious story for all naughty wolves!

Sinclair is no ordinary teddy bear. At night, when his owner Emily is fast asleep, he becomes a Wonder Bear, flying all over the world, and magically changing himself into new materials to save people in danger. One night he's a very busy bear indeed. First in India, he changes into steel to mend a broken track before a train full of people arrives. Then in France, he transforms himself into a powerful magnet to help the Madame free her pet dog Lucile. In Australia, Sinclair turns into a window in a glass-bottomed boat to help his friend Captain Baz. Then he becomes stretchy rubber to save a little boy from the water. But after all that hard work even Wonder Bears get sleepy, and as the sun rises, he flies home to Emily before she wakes up.

Jess and her blacksmith father have a dragon named Huff who helps heat their forge. They live in a mountain town, fenced to keep out the valley people, and the King charges Jess’s father with making a strong gate for the town’s fence. But Huff is getting too old to provide enough fire, so they get a new dragon who they call Puff. They work day and night to finish the gate for the King. But the work has caused Puff to become ill, and it’s only with the help of a boy from the valley that Jess learns how to heal her new dragon!

Annie lives with her elderly parents in a remote cottage. She is used to being alone. Every day she walks by the lonely marsh to school. Only in winter, when the wind howls in the trees, is Annie ever afraid. Her sister Willa is pregnant and Annie is overjoyed when she comes home to have her baby. Annie tells Willa the names of local plants and Willa tells Annie about the ghost, murdered by highwaymen, who is said to haunt the old forge nearby. Then, on a terrible night, with the phone lines down, Willa goes into labor. Annie is terrified of the ghost, but knows she must brave the storm to fetch help. As she ventures into the night, a horseman swings into view. He offers to take Annie to town. Before she can protest, Annie finds herself lifted on to his saddle and off they set on an intense, dream-like journey. Only once he has deposited her safely on the doctor's doorstep, does the horseman reveal that he is the ghost she fears.

Natalie’s sister Lola has locked herself in the bathroom and won’t come out. She’s been caught by a witch and a dragon, and they are keeping her prisoner! When the witch gets angry and conjures up frogs—which don’t like dragons at all—things in the bathroom get a little crazy. If the police, the firemen, and her family can’t get Lola out of the bathroom, who can?

Granda is different from other folk—he talks to the hills. One day, he tells his granddaughter, Lily, an old story about Dragon Boy—a human child who was raised by a dragon mother. The young lad lived happily with his family in the Dragon Hills. He looked like a dragon in his costume of leaves, and he learnt to sing dragon songs. But he couldn't make fire like his dragon friends and somehow, he still felt as if he was the odd one out. Then one day, Dragon Boy is reunited with his real mother and goes to live with his human family, but he still misses his dragon past and he still talks to them when he can. Just like Granda in fact, thinks Lily!

One day, Big Dog decides on a plane adventure. So, he gets busy in his workshop and Little Dog helps by making the buttons and levers for the dashboard. Off they go in their shiny plane, doing acrobatics and loop the loops. But when it's time to land for a picnic, they realize they've left the landing button at home! Oh no! It's time for Little Dog to be very brave indeed. This is a stirring tale of derring-do in the air, starring two very dashing dogs!

When King Frederick and Queen Gwen have triplet daughters, they're delighted. However, there's a bit of a muddle when they're born, and no one knows which one is the eldest, and therefore the heir. So when King Frederick wants to retire, he has to decide who will be Queen. Will it be Princess Hazel, Princess Apple, or Princess Cherry? Frederick had a very helpful instruction book when he first became king and he knows how important it is to use instructions and rules wisely. So he sets his daughters a test—whoever can bake a cake, following the instructions but also adding their own flourish, will rule after him. The princesses all have their individual qualities—but who has the right recipe to rule?