バナナをもって (Banana o Motte) is one of my favourites from our collection of Japanese language first books.
With a fantastic rhythm and repetition, this is about a little boy with a bunch of bananas, going from house to house looking to give the bananas to monkeys so they can play. Is this the place? Is this the monkey’s house? Knock knock knock, let’s play!
He visits a crocodile, a lion, and a ghost house, before leading all his new (not so scary due to the child-like drawings) friends to the right place in the end, where a banana party fit for any toddler ensues.
Bragging rights – I found this book in a book shop, not my native speaker wife. And it was the biggest hit with our son for a long time.
Also, the publisher of this book, Crayon House, has a bookshop with a really pleasant organic cafe in Aoyama in Tokyo. Coincidentally, we visited on the same trip to Japan as buying this book. (Unfortunately, we were there for dinner, and the bookshop was closing as we arrived, so I missed out on browsing in the store.)
Enjoyment rating (max = 5 koi-nobori): (Explanation)
My kids: 🎏🎏🎏🎏🎏
Me: 🎏🎏🎏🎏🎏
Author: 浦中こういち
Publisher: クレヨンハウス
🎏