GLADYS GOES OUT TO LUNCH

Gladys is a gorilla (never mind that she’s purple, for there is more color on these pages than a harlequin’s Technicolor dream coat). Anderson’s ape has a weakness for bananas—morning, noon and night—and her zookeepers always have great bunches at the ready. One day a smell, a delicious waft, tickles her nose, her curiosity and her appetite. So Gladys goes out to lunch, much to the consternation of her keepers. She follows the scent first to a pizzeria (tasty, but not want she’s looking for), to a French cafe (fancy, but frog legs aren’t really gorilla fare), to an ice-cream stand (15 flavors, all sampled), and finally to the source, the pot of gold: a banana-bread food cart. Like Gladys’s bananas, Anderson’s story is simple comfort food, with eye-candy artwork providing a welcome dash of spice. (Picture book. 3-6)