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Two Old Potatoes and Me    by John Coy & Carolyn Fisher order for
Two Old Potatoes and Me
by John Coy
Order:  USA  Can
Dragonfly, 2009 (2003)
Hardcover, Softcover

Read an Excerpt

* *   Reviewed by Hilary Williamson

In John Coy's Two Old Potatoes and Me (vibrantly illustrated by Carolyn Fisher in an extreme style that emphasizes what's happening underneath the soil), a girl and her divorced father spend their allotted time together planting pieces of two old potatoes and nurturing them into a bountiful harvest.

The girl tells her tale, beginning with finding two old potatoes in a cupboard, 'so old, sprouts were growing from their eyes.' As she reacts by tossing them in the trash ('Gross'), her dad suggests they might get new potatoes from them, and they consult Grandpa. What follows tells readers young and old how to proceed - raking, planting, watering, weeding, composting, picking off bugs, etc. - 'We weeded. We watered. We waited.' And on Periwinkle Day, they dig up spuds and feast on them.

What makes this story stand out is not only its useful how to lesson on growing potatoes (including a Mashed Potatoes recipe at the end), but also the loving, mentoring relationship between father and daughter, despite the separation caused by the parents' divorce.


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