Can You Grow a Striped Banana?

by Jill Santopolo, Momoko Abe (Illustrator)

Overview

In this cozy read-aloud—with an irresistible mix of humor and tenderness—a mom assures her daughter that while mothers may not be perfect, they’ll always be full of love. The first picture book by the bestselling author of The Light We Lost and The Love We Found.

Vibrant, adorable illustrations accompany a mother’s explanation to her daughter, who makes outrageous requests that simply can’t be met. “I can’t grow a striped banana. I can’t stretch like a giraffe. I can’t hear an earthworm’s whisper or make a spider laugh,” Mom admits. But the girl’s requests just get sillier, until the funny and touching moment the next day when Mom shows her daughter that she might have to disappoint her sometimes, but she’ll always find a way to demonstrate just how much she loves her.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593858851
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	04/21/2026
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Jill Santopolo is the internationally best-selling author of five novels for adults, including The Love We Found, Stars in an Italian Sky, and The Light We Lost, which was a New York Times Bestseller, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, a Belletrist book club pick, and has been optioned for film. She is also the author of the children’s books in the Alec Flint Mysteries, Sparkle Spa, and Follow Your Heart series. Jill holds a BA from Columbia University, an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and a certificate in Intellectual Property Law from NYU. She is the publisher of Philomel, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group, and lives in New York City with her husband and daughter. This is her debut picture book.

Momoko Abe was born in Japan and has been drawing ever since she can remember. Her interest in visual storytelling brought her to the UK to study filmmaking when she was 20, and she still works in the TV and film industry alongside her illustration work. A winner of the AOI World Illustration Award, she lives in London with her cat, Clementine.