The Banana Story of Agony, Lesley Johnson (Conundrum)

Not quite a children's book and not quite a graphic novel, Sackville, NB, artist Lesley Johnson creates strange vignettes illustrated in loose, fluid watercolours. Her themes range from a persistent Santa who a suspicious boy won't let into the house, to a girl who ignores her family's warnings that there's a chicken on her butt, to a lonely banana desperate to be eaten. The writhing, wide-eyed banana is the weirdest and most captivating of the stories, where every panel could be a standalone painting. Johnson's stories bring to mind the sort of childhood fantasies that sidestep the line between daydreams and nightmares.