Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Helen Ross "10 Yellow Bananas"

10 Yellow Bananas
Written by Helen Ross
Published  by Little Steps Publishing (Division of New Frontier) Released 2010.
Illustrations by Dee Texidor




AboutThe Book:

Excerpt from review by Megan Blandford on Kids Book Review.

 "Ten yellow bananas, clutching teddy bears, race through the doorway, then nine sleepy pears..." So begins the story of ten different fruits involved in a frantic, crazy chase. Led by the ten yellow bananas who stole the nine pears' teddy bears, we follow them as they gather lemons, apples, cherries, pineapples, kiwi fruit, grapes, watermelons and one little berry. But watch out for the near-disaster at the end!


With Helen Ross' signature of laugh-out-loud, clever rhymes, this book takes children on a reverse-counting escapade that should come with a warning: kids will want it read to them over and over and over again. The other beauty of the story is the educational aspect. Young children will love naming the different fruits, and as they grow older they will recognise the colours and then begin counting with you.

The cover is completely irresistible to any child, with its bright colours and beautifully expressive fruit faces. And this follows right through the book, adding to the charm of the rhyme and the pace and fun of the adventure.  





Helen Ross

Why I wrote it:

The first run of verses tumbled into my head in 1993. At the time, I was a secretary and was answering a client’s phone call when the bananas charged into my brain followed by some pears singing a giggly rhyme.

After 13 years of sitting in my ‘ideas’ box, alongside other poems, I decided to self publish Ten Yellow Bananas (note original title) as I felt this story would appeal to young children. Sales of this 2006 published book were great but I knew it needed more commercial appeal/a peel – pardon the pun.  Literally hundreds of rewrites were carried out as part of Dr Virginia Lowe’s writing for children e-course.

As I wanted to keep my rights, I forwarded my manuscript to Little Steps Publishing, whereupon they offered me a partnership publishing contract.



Read about the book, learn more about Helen Ross, and illustrator Dee Texidor on 10 Yellow Bananas Cyber Launch.
   

What you may not know about me:

At home, I sometimes wear a silly pink wig – for fun!



More about Helen:


Helen Ross is an Australian published children's author, an award winning children’s poet, freelance writer-photographer, and blogger. She lives in Brisbane with her husband and their beloved pets.

 



Also by Helen Ross

To read more about Helen check out her website and blog Helen Ross writes.

Purchase Books:

Booktopia

Redhen

author's site
Helen Ross writes is a permanent link in our Book Talk Favorite Links series.

1 comment:

  1. The cover of the book (not to mention the photo of Helen with kitty) charms me as much as your reading dog banner photo, who makes me smile every time I visit here. Sounds like a delightful book.

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