Part graphic novel, part children’s picture book, Lesley Johnson’s The Banana Story of Agony is a collection of four whimsical stories recounted primarily through Johnson’s expressionistic illustrations. “Love” describes Paradise lost and then rediscovered; in “There’s No One Home,” a boy refuses to let Santa into his house; “Susan Had a Chicken on her Butt” really is about the fowl on a sulky girl’s posterior; and the title story relays a banana’s tragic quest for self-fulfillment. Johnson’s landscapes are stark but glowing, and her impish characters flow across the pages. Humour and brevity combine in strange worlds that invite readers to create their own tangential storylines. (Ages 13+) mRb