A VERY CURIOUS PICTURE BOOK

Bananas!
Is it true they're a little... bananas?

Come meet Bunchy, your curved yellow guide, and find out where bananas grow, how to peel one like a pro, all the wild kinds there are — and why we say something silly is "bananas."

Written by David Santos Grossi
5th Grade · PS17 · New York City

CHAPTER ONE

Where do bananas come from?

A banana doesn't grow on a tree at all! The banana plant is actually the world's largest herb — its "trunk" is made of tightly rolled leaves, not wood.

Bananas love it hot and rainy. Most of the bananas we eat travel from places like:

  • India and China (the biggest growers!)
  • Ecuador and Colombia
  • The Philippines and Indonesia

Each plant grows one giant flower, and from that flower, a whole bunch of bananas curls upward toward the sun.

CHAPTER TWO

One flower, a whole bunch

The banana plant grows one tall stem with a big purple-red flower bud hanging at the tip.

As it opens, each row of tiny flowers turns into a curved row of bananas called a hand. Every single banana in that row is called a finger.

A whole bunch can have 100–400 fingers and can weigh as much as a person!

🍌 Fun fact: bananas grow curving upward, reaching for sunlight — that's why they're shaped like a smile!
CHAPTER THREE

How do you open a banana?

Most people pull the stem — but here's a secret from the animal kingdom: monkeys open bananas from the other end!

Try it the easy way:

  • Hold the banana with the stem pointing up.
  • Pinch the little dark tip at the bottom.
  • Squeeze gently — the peel pops open on its own!
  • Peel the flaps down like a blooming flower.
🐒 No fingernails needed — that's why monkeys use this end!
CHAPTER FOUR

So many kinds of banana!

  • Cavendish — the sweet yellow banana in almost every grocery store.
  • Plantain — bigger and starchy; usually cooked, not eaten raw.
  • Red banana — reddish-purple skin, soft and a little berry-sweet.
  • Lady Finger — small, thin, and extra sweet — a snack-size banana.
  • Blue Java — nicknamed the "ice cream banana" for its creamy taste.
  • Manzano — short and chubby, tastes a little like apple!
CHAPTER FIVE

Why do we say "that's bananas!"

When something is silly, wild, or a little bit crazy, people say "that's bananas!"

Nobody knows the exact origin for certain, but a few playful theories are:

  • Old cartoons loved to show characters slipping on banana peels — total chaos!
  • Monkeys go a little wild for bananas, and "going ape" for something crazy is an old phrase too.
  • The curvy, funny shape of a banana itself just feels goofy and fun to say.
Language is a little bit like a banana bunch — lots of separate stories all curled together!
BONUS CHAPTER

A few more bananas facts

🍌 ⚛️ 🌱 🫐
  • Botanically speaking, a banana is a berry — but a strawberry isn't!
  • Bananas contain a tiny bit of natural potassium, which is even used as a friendly way scientists compare small amounts of everyday radiation.
  • The bananas we eat today mostly grow from cuttings, not seeds — every Cavendish banana plant is basically a clone of another!
  • Banana peels are used to make paper, rope, and even fertilizer.

The End — go find a banana and try it!

Next time someone hands you a banana, you'll know where it grew, how to peel it the clever way, which kind it might be, and why the word itself is a little bit bananas.