Blue Bananas: Coconut Jack by Jill Lewis (author)

This is the vine, knitted in twine, made by Jack’s grandma in double-quick time, that swings from the tree (two metres tall), made out of cardboard and wood in the hall … that holds up the coconut Jack made!

Year One’s homework is to make something for the jungle display. That evening most of the class are cutting and gluing, painting and drawing. But Jack would rather play football. So he gets some modelling clay, rolls it into a ball and hey presto! It’s a coconut. But Jack’s family don’t feel this is quite enough. So, Dad makes a tree and Grandma knits a vine, Mum makes a snake and little Fred donates a stuffed parrot. Soon it’s a glorious palm tree, worthy of a place among the jungle huts, anteaters, birds and giant millipedes the others have made. But when the family take Jack’s new coconut tree to school, disaster strikes… Told in bouncy rhyming couplets, this witty story is perfect for developing readers.