Keko and the Lost Bananas by Cynthia Pilcher

Keko and the Lost Bananas by Cynthia Pilcher is a sweet story about friendship and sharing.  It features two animal friends who have a problem to work out: Dilly, a small fruit bat, has taken Keko's beloved bananas without permission.  Keko is a monkey... and we all know how much monkeys love bananas!

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Author's Summary

This cute children's book tells the tale of Keko the monkey, how she 'lost' her bananas, and then found them with the help of a friend and a trail of peels. This book, while fun and playful, also shows that you can solve many problems with the help of others, you don't always have to be angry with the person that caused the problem, and that you should forgive the small things.

🍎 Title: Keko and the Lost Bananas

🍎 Author: Cynthia Pilcher

🍎 Illustrator: Whimsical Illustrations

🍎 Publisher: self-published

🍎 Date: *may be out of print*

🍎 Pages: 24

I recently read Keko and the Lost Bananas with a mixed group of preschool and kindergarten children. They loved it! Even though Keko the monkey is the main character, it was Dilly the fruit bat they loved most.

The children could relate to Dilly on many levels. They had been learning about the importance of sharing with their friends, saying 'please' and 'thank you', asking permission to use or borrow something and not just taking it, and saying 'I'm sorry' when doing something wrong or hurting people's feelings. The children were worried about Dilly getting in trouble when Keko confronts her. They were visibly relieved when Keko and Dilly talk out things out and Dilly learns her lesson.

Dilly the Fruit Bat: Papercraft

After reading and discussing Keko and the Lost Bananas, the children had the opportunity to make their own Dilly fruit bats.  To make their bats, the children needed:

• construction paper
• glue sticks
• pre-cut bat pieces (see the pattern below)
• yellow crayons
• pre-cut paper bananas (copied from an old book I had)
• a quick mini-lesson about the way bats look-- wings, ears, eyes, teeth, feet, etc.

The directions to making Dilly are simple... take the pieces, arrange them on the paper the way you like them, and glue them down.  I did not interfere with the children's creative process; I didn't rearrange the pieces to make them look more like a bat.  I let the children do their crafts their way and the results were too darn cute.  

Here are two examples of the finished projects:

Jonathan's bat reminds me of something Picasso would have made.  Jonathan was all about the process and that is OK.  He had a good time making this and, to me, that was very important.

Anthony tried to make his Dilly look like a 'real bat' (his words).  He took his time and was methodical in placing his pieces.  He also had fun making this.  Anthony had recently learned how to make faces and wanted to make sure Dilly had a face.  Yay, Anthony!

Have you read this book before?  Have you read any other books by Cynthia Pilcher?  Do you have any favorite books about friendship and sharing that we should know about?  Tell us about them in the comments below!

(Next article: How to Make Your Own Playdough)