© 2011 Universal Uclick

release dates: January 8-14 2-1 (11)

from The Mini Page © 2011 Universal Uclick

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Book of StatesNEW!

Invasion of the Mutant Fruit

Going Bananas

Traveling fruit A smart person discovered people could eat the fruit from the mutant plant. This Stone Age farmer took a cutting, or piece of the banana plant, and replanted it to get more bananas. The mother plant had long shoots, or new growth, growing out from under the plant. These shoots, which looked like giant tulip bulbs, were about as long as an adult’s leg. These “daughter” shoots lasted for years, so people were able to carry them as they moved to new places, even across the ocean. People replanted these banana shoots at their new homes, spreading the banana through many tropical, or hot and rainy, lands.

Have you ever looked for seeds in a banana? You’re right. There are none. You may notice tiny bits of what were once seeds, but that’s all. The banana we eat cannot grow on its own. For thousands of years, people have grown this important food from parts of other banana plants. The Mini Page talked with an author of a book about bananas to learn more about this weird, wonderful fruit.Mutant fruit Bananas that grow in the wild are inedible (in-ED-uh-buhl), or not able to be eaten. This is because the seeds are so hard and so big that it is difficult to get any actual food from the fruit. But about 50,000 years ago, experts say, a mutant* banana plant appeared in what is probably now Malaysia. This plant had no seeds. People could eat the fruit.*A mutant is a plant or animal that changes from others of its species because its coding, or genes, change.

Banana in danger In the wild, mutations occur naturally in plants that grow from seeds. These changes can help the plant survive disease or disasters. But because edible banana plants are all nearly identical copies of the 50,000-year-old mother plant, they have no way to develop new defenses. Several diseases are now threatening to wipe out our favorite banana varieties.

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This girl is selling bananas along a roadside in Timor-Leste, in Southeast Asia.Bananas do not ripen on the plants. They stay green until they are picked. Then the starch in the bananas turns to sugar, and bananas turn yellow and sweet.People in many countries eat bananas in all stages. They use green bananas in meals much like we would use potatoes. Sweet yellow bananas are for dessert.

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Scientists look at a banana leaf damaged by disease.

Words that remind us of bananas are hidden in the block below. Some words are hidden backward or diagonally. See if you can find: CAVENDISH, CUTTING, DISEASES, EAT, FOOD, FRUIT, GENE, GREEN, GROW, INEDIBLE, MEAL, MUTANT, NEW, PEEL, PICK, PLANT, RIPEN, SEED, SHOOTS, SOIL, TROPICAL, YELLOW, VARIETIES, WILD.

Bananas try ’nfind

I’m a banana fan!

F T N A L P S E I T E I R A V P R G W O R G N E P I R Y T D F E U E S G N I T T U C E R I M O E I N O K N E E R G L O S U W O L T E I V M E A L L P E T S I D W E N L K C I P O I A A E E L L M S T O O H S W C S N E A N D E L B I D E N I A E T D T H S I D N E V A C K L S

from The Mini Page © 2011 Universal Uclick

Basset Brown

the news

Hound’s

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ready resourcesfrom The Mini Page © 2011 Universal Uclick

The Mini Page provides ideas for websites, books or other resources that will help you learn more about this week’s topics.On the Web:• http://urbanext.illinois.edu/food/sections/bananas/?page=0• www.bananabook.org/kids• www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/month/banana.htmlAt the library:• “Bananas!” by Jacqueline Farmer• “The Biography of Bananas” by Rachel Eagen• “Yes, We Have Bananas: Fruits From Shrubs & Vines

(Plants We Eat)” by Meredith Sayles Hughes

from The Mini Page © 2011 Universal Uclick

Top BananaV.I.F. — Very Important Food Bananas are one of the main food sources in the world. If disease were to wipe out bananas, a lot of people would starve. People in many countries depend on bananas for their meals. For example, in America, each person eats an average of 25 pounds of bananas each year. But in parts of Africa, each person eats an average of 900 pounds per year. (One pound equals about three bananas.)Banana world

Although there is only one species of banana, there are about 1,000 varieties.

Over thousands of years, people have created or grown new types. All but about 20 to 30 of those 1,000 varieties are edible. Inedible varieties still grow in the wild with big, hard seeds. The edible bananas are all grown by people making cuttings.

Favorite banana The banana you eat is probably a Cavendish, the top banana in America and Europe. It makes up 99 percent of all bananas exported, or sent from the country where they are grown. However, people from other countries believe different varieties taste much better.Banana diseases Different diseases are attacking the Cavendish in Asia. Experts are worried that this disease could spread to Africa and Latin America. If it does, we may no longer be able to get our favorite banana. These diseases are carried in dirt and water, so they spread easily from crop to crop. Just a couple handfuls of contaminated dirt could spread the disease to healthy fields. A hurricane, for example, could blow contaminated soil to other countries.

A boy sells bananas in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

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Saving on costs By sticking to one banana variety, companies save money. All the bananas ripen at the same rate, making shipping cheaper.

Mini Spy . . .Mini Spy and Rookie Cookie are going bananas making smoothies and banana splits! See if you can find:• frog • ruler • word MINI • fish• kite • strawberry • bird • letter A• pencil • basket • saw • cheese• peanut • snake • snail wedge• golf club • man in the moon • muffin

from The Mini Page © 2011 Universal Uclick

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Rookie Cookie’s RecipeBanana Bites

You’ll need:• 1 medium-large banana• 4 heaping tablespoons reduced-fat whipped topping• 2 tablespoons peanut butter• 14 to 16 chocolate chipsWhat to do:1. Slice banana into 14 to 16 rounds.2. Mix together whipped topping and peanut butter until

well-blended.3. Put a small dollop of mixture on top of each banana round.4. Top with chocolate chip.5. Chill in refrigerator for one hour before serving. You will need an adult’s help with this recipe.

from The Mini Page © 2011 Universal Uclick

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from The Mini Page © 2011 Universal Uclick

Meet Tom Cavanagh Tom Cavanagh stars as Ranger Smith in the movie “Yogi Bear.” He has starred in several TV shows, including “Ed.” He produced and directed some episodes for that series. He has also starred in movies, including “How to Eat Fried Worms” and the TV movie “Christmas Dreams.” He has appeared in several plays, including “Grease.” Tom, 47, was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

He has four siblings. When he was 6 years old, he moved with his family to Ghana, Africa, where his dad taught teachers how to teach. His family later moved back to Canada. Tom played ice hockey and basketball in college. He graduated with degrees in biology, English and education. He speaks English and French. He enjoys playing the guitar. Tom supports a charity that buys mosquito nets to help protect kids in Africa from getting malaria.

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from The Mini Page © 2011 Universal Uclick

Brian: Why do bananas have to use suntan lotion?

Beth: Because bananas peel!

TM

All the following jokes have something in common. Can you guess the common theme or category?

Bernard: What do you call two bananas?Bill: A pair of slippers!

Bailey: Why did the policeman give the banana a speeding ticket?

Beverly: Because he was caught peeling out of the parking lot!

from The Mini Page © 2011 Universal Uclick

Peeling Back the Mysteries

The Mini Page StaffBetty Debnam - Founding Editor and Editor at Large Lisa Tarry - Managing Editor Lucy Lien - Associate Editor Wendy Daley - Artist

In the early 1900s, the top banana was the Gros Michel (or Big Mike), which people say was tastier than the Cavendish. But disease spread through banana plantations, almost wiping it out.

It still grows in people’s gardens, but the disease organisms are still in the soil of the plantations. In the

1950s, this disease almost wiped out the banana industry as well. Companies switched to a resistant Chinese variety, the Cavendish. Now the Cavendish is facing the same plight. It too could be nearly wiped out.Planning for the future Because edible bananas have not changed much since that first mutant plant, the same types of diseases threaten all varieties. Bananas have very few built-in genes that can fight all these diseases. Scientists are trying to create disease-resistant plants. They are mixing banana genes with resistant genes from other plants, such as radishes. Scientists are also working to save banana varieties for the future. World leaders are saving seeds of important food crops in case of disaster. But they can’t save seeds when there are no seeds to save. Instead, they must freeze the DNA, or genetic material, from bananas, just in case.

Oh, that old joke Have you seen cartoons about people slipping on banana peels? Those cartoons are based on a real problem a little over 100 years ago. As soon as bananas were available, people loved them. But they didn’t know what to do with the peels, so they threw them on the ground. The peels turned slippery and mushy, and people slipped on them and got hurt. St. Louis created a law making it illegal to throw a banana peel on the ground. New York City let pigs loose in the streets to eat the garbage. But the banana peels on top of all the other trash were too much for the pigs. New York had to hire a retired military colonel to start its first garbage pickup service!

Any way you want them A little more than 100 years ago, most people didn’t even know what a banana was. It grew only in tropical areas, so it had to be shipped thousands of miles to reach the U.S. Boats were slow, so bananas rotted before they got here. In the late 1800s, United Fruit (now called Chiquita) figured out how to ship bananas in ice-filled ships. But the company still needed to explain this strange fruit to people. So in 1944, it composed a jingle. The first words told people ways to eat a banana. Today, the song is the same, but the words are about nutrition.

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Workers harvest bananas in Guatemala. Because bananas are at so much risk from disease, many growers spray large amounts of harsh pesticides over the plantations. Workers often get sick, and the pesticides contaminate the groundwater.The thick banana peel does keep the pesticides from reaching the fruit. Bananas are safe to eat.

The Mini Page thanks Dan Koeppel, author of the adult-level book, “Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World,” for help with this issue.

Look through your newspaper for ads and recipes featuring bananas or banana foods such as banana smoothies.

Next week, The Mini Page is about the last tigers on Earth.

from The Mini Page © 2011 Universal Uclick

Supersport: Katie O’DonnellHeight: 5-2 Hometown: Blue Bell, Pa. The score was tied. The clock was racing. The pressure was mounting. Rising to the occasion, top-ranked Maryland star Katie O’Donnell once again flashed her All-America field hockey skills. First, she stopped a North Carolina attack with an interception. Then she flipped the ball to teammate Megan

Frazer, who rifled in the winning goal, lifting the Terps to a 3-2, double-overtime victory and their seventh national championship. The Terps expect such moves from O’Donnell, the two-time National Player of the Year and a four-time All-American. “Special Katie” tallied 98 points this fall on 32 goals and 34 assists. The explosive Terp, an elementary school education major, wrote the perfect ending to her college career and now expects to keep competing for U.S. national teams.

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