Stories to Eat with a Banana by Jackie French

Stories to Eat with a Banana by Jackie French is great children’s novel that is a collection of stories based on the main character, Prudence, and in many cases her best friend Phredde, who is a fairy, or rather a phaery. Each story is written around the notion that a civil war broke out in a land called Ruitania and now many mythical creatures and beast that lived there were forced to flee, a lot of them came to Australia. The creatures in the stories include trolls, vampires, dragons and of course fairies.

Most of the stories are written in the traditional style of narrative in which the author explains the setting then there is a build-up of conflicts leading into the climax of the story and then the problems resolve at the end. However some of these stories are different as even though they are all different tales they somehow connect and use information from the story before as they set the scene. This is not always effective as some of the stories become stale and uninteresting as there is not always suspense or a problem to be solved. The way it is written however, is very characteristic of the writing style Jackie French uses and can easily be enjoyed by many children. 

This novel would be aimed at children in upper primary as it is relatable to this age range as it is written in a way that is easy to read and sounds a lot like someone talking rather than writing. It’s a great book for children that want a simple and funny read that invokes such imagination and encourages creativity.