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Book Review: Do Bananas Chew Gum by Jamie Gilson

This is one of a growing number of books about students with learning disabilities. Others already reviewed on this site are:

• Freak the Mighty and Max the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick
• Yellow Bird And Me by Joyce Hansen
• Yolanda's Genius by Carol Fenner

Title, Author & Publisher: Do Bananas Chew Gum byJamie Gilson. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1980.

Length: 158 pages, no illustrations except for a few graphic versions of the main characters handwriting and spelling.

Print size: fairly small

Other readability/instructional issues -

This book is written in the first person, in chronological order. Unlike _Freak the Mighty_ and its sequel, the narrator Sam's reading disability is the focal point of the book. A student with moderate to severe reading problems (including the man character) would not have the skills to read this book independently.

Summary: Sam is in a new town and a new school, but it isn't long before his reading problems mean school is the same old story and put his new-found babysitting job in jeopardy. He overhears his mother expressing concerns that he is retarded, and his father recounting his childhood troubles in school. The story line encompasses many of the non-academic issues of learning disabilities including troubles with left and right, organization, social skills, and even mention of other kinds of learning disabilities than troubles with reading. It would lend itself well to discussing the strengths and challenges of the characters in the book (and how to figure out what they are). Sam clearly has a vivid imagination and a good oral vocabulary, is great at math, but can't read, or remember that he had a dentist appointment.

Typical words:

Typical multisyllable/irregular words - you may want to see how many of these words your students can identify before expecting them to read independently.