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Summary
Summary
One day at her dad's house, a young girl finds two old potatoes in the cupboard. "Gross." But before she can throw them away, her dad suggests they try to grow new potatoes from the old ones, which have sprouted eyes. Told from May to September, the potato-growing season, the story includes all the basic steps for growing potatoes while subtly dealing with the parents' recent divorce. Just like the new potatoes that emerged from ugly old potatoes, this dadand daughter move on and make a new life together in the face of unavoidable and unpleasant change. Carolyn Fisher's artwork will be instantly recognizable from her recent picture book debut, A Twisted Tale, and her trademark high-energy art and design infuse joy and humor into this heartwarming story.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-While at her father's house, a girl discovers two old potatoes that have begun to sprout in the rear of the cupboard. She throws them away, but he suggests that instead they try to grow new ones from them. The story details how they prepare the soil, weed, water, and protect the plants from potato beetles. In September, their patience and hard work are rewarded with a brimming bucket of new potatoes. Several elements raise this story above the ordinary. First, the idea that something originally destined for the garbage can be turned into so much bounty is an important one for children growing up in our throwaway society. Second, it is refreshing to have a situation in which a divorced father and his daughter have such a comfortable relationship and spend their time together so productively. Third, Fisher's richly detailed, highly stylized color illustrations integrate perfectly with the varying fonts of the text and are a standout. There's lots of food for thought here, along with a recipe for mashed potatoes.-Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this sanguine gardening tale, 67 new potatoes and a warm father/daughter rapport grow out of two inedible spuds. "Last spring at my dad's house, I found two old potatoes in the back of the cupboard," says a girl, holding the desiccated, sprouty lumps. She sticks out her tongue and pronounces them "gross" (spelled out in cubes along the left border), but her father thinks they have potential. Step by step, the girl explains how she and her dad till the soil, carve the potatoes into chunks and plant them sprout-side-up. In June, they find "violet flowers" on the young plants. "When we watered, I accidentally sprayed my dad with the hose," laughs the girl. In July, potato bugs invade, and in August the leaves dry in the sun. "We weeded./ We watered./ We waited," the narrator says, and Fisher (A Twisted Tale) spells out the alliterative words in sinuous alfalfa sprouts, wavy blue liquid and clumpy earthworm tunnels in gray-brown dirt. By September, the girl's hair is longer and a crop of potatoes lies underground. Coy (Vroomaloom Zoom) hints that the girl and her father make productive use of limited time together: "How's your bedroom at your mom's house coming?" the father asks as they take a break from gardening. Fisher hand-prints the text for a casual, crayony look, and her unique multimedia compositions feature loamy dark browns, rich greens and denim blues. This well-realized story brims with affection and satisfyingly concludes with a recipe and a buttery bowl of mashed potatoes. Ages 5-8. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
A young girl and her father spend time together planting potatoes in their garden. She is skeptical that anything will grow from their two withered potatoes, but in the fall both her potatoes and the time spent with her father have produced good results. The bright illustrations create a splashy collage effect but are sometimes busy. A recipe for creamy mashed potatoes is included. From HORN BOOK Fall 2003, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A father and daughter bond after divorce by turning two old potatoes ("Gross!") into a gardening project. The daughter narrates, month by month, as the two plant, cultivate, and ultimately harvest their crop, the gardening work lightened by water fights and conversation. Energetic mixed-media illustrations depict a dark-skinned father and a lighter-skinned daughter in a painless and message-free representation of a biracial family, complementing the low-key handling of the post-divorce relationship. Coy's narration is colloquial and casual and just right. Fisher's illustrations, however, are anything but casual, busily incorporating the text into the design in a way that is clearly meant to be organic but ends up frequently making the letters difficult to read. This overdesign is unfortunate, as the optimism and good cheer of the total package are undeniably appealing. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
