posted on 05 Apr 2023

Operation Banana by Tony Bradman, illustrated by Tania Rex

I belong to a generation of children who grew up in the 50s and 60s listening to stories of wartime deprivation from parents and grandparents. Like a lot of self-centred youngsters, I usually only half-listened to them because they spoke of a world and a way of life that had no real meaning for me. One story that did stick with me however, was the story of how thrilling it was for everyone when it became possible once again to get hold of bananas. For my mom and for my grandmother there was something very special – very exotic - about bananas. For working class families like ours, bananas seemed to represent something much bigger than an exotic fruit; they stood in some way for a better, more exciting life and a chance to embrace a world beyond the confines of grimy, grey, industrial Birmingham. So when I saw that Barrington Stoke had published Tony Bradman’s Operation Banana, I just had to dive in and read it.

It's 1942, three years into the Second World War and Susan and her mum are having to cope with a life full of fear and privation. Dad’s away at war and they wait for his letters home, always expecting bad news at any moment. Rationing is in place and luxuries are very hard to come by. German submarines are prowling the seas waiting to sink the supply ships trying to make their way across the Atlantic.

Susan decides that she must do something special to try and raise her mum’s spirits:

“Mum….was curled up on the settee asleep. Her eyes were shut tight, and she twitched a couple of times as if she were having a bad dream. 

And that’s when Susan decided she really had to cheer Mum up. 

The only question was – how?”

At school, Susan tells her friend Jimmy that her mum is sad and she really wants to find a way of cheering her up and between them they hatch a plan – they will find her a banana!

The rationing of food and the lack of imported luxuries created a situation where illicit and illegal dealing – the Black Market – could thrive. One girl in school was always better dressed and better fed than anyone else and it seemed obvious that all this was the result of her dad’s activities on the Black Market. Maybe, just maybe, that was the answer – could Doreen get a banana for them from her dad and what would it cost them?

Well, I’m not going to tell you the answer – find out for yourself by buying the book. If you do, you’ll not only get a great story aimed at children aged 9+ but some great full and half-page illustrations from Tania Rex, a Lithuanian artist who has an impressive portfolio of work that can be sampled on her website (here).

The book is available in April of this year and can be ordered from your local independent bookshop if they don’t already stock copies. Alternatively you can go directly to the Barrington Stoke website to order it directly from them.

 

Terry Potter

April 2023