who is the author of the chocolate touch
The chocolate Touch - wikipedia The chocolate Touch Jump to : navigation , search The Chocolate Touch <Td_colspan="2"> Author Patrick Skene Catling Illustrator Mildred Coughlin McNutt Country United States Language English Published 1952 by William Morrow Pages 95 OCLC 1470182 The Chocolate Touch is a children 's book by Patrick Skene Catling , first published in the USA in 1952 . John Midas is delighted when , through a magical gift , everything his lips touch turns into chocolate . The story is patterned after the myth of King Midas , whose magic turned everything he touched into gold . The original illustrations were by Mildred Coughlin McNutt , but another edition in the same year , a `` newly illustrated '' edition , had illustrations by Margot Apple and more pages . Contents ( hide ) 1 Summary 2 Themes 3 Significance 4 References Summary ( edit ) John is a young boy with an intense love of confectionery , especially chocolate . The family doctor warns John that his health is poor , and until further notice , he is to eat only those foods that are conducive to a healthy body , much to the boy 's disgruntlement . The doctor 's orders are backed by John 's folks , who dispose of their son 's entire candy stash and have control over his spending money . Angered at having his life micromanaged , John goes for a walk to clear his head . Whilst on his excursion he sees a coin on the ground , and thinks his good fortune as a way to buy a quick fix of chocolate , only to be dismayed to think the coin must be a novelty , as it is engraved with the image of a fat boy and the letters JM . Even so , John remarks the coin is unique as JM stands for John Midas , and decides to hang on to it . Also on his walk he comes across a candy store he has never seen before . Even more odd is that the store is run by a shopkeeper whom John has never met before , but is friendly and refers to John by name and extols his chocolate as the finest ever . The confectioner offers John a box of his chocolates in exchange for the strange coin . That night before going to bed , John decides to have one final chocolate feast , only be dismayed to find the box contains nothing save for an ordinary chocolate ball , which does not taste overly different from most other types of chocolate . The next morning , John is amazed to find everything he eats is chocolate . Then , the Chocolate Touch 's effects go into full swing , and whatever touches his mouth turns to chocolate . However , he can not properly hydrate himself this way . He then gets tired of eating chocolate and begins to view foods with nutrients as the tastiest delicacies on earth . He spoils a birthday party when bobbing for apples later in the day . John 's dad asks where he got the chocolate , but both are dismayed when the candy store had mysteriously vanished . They go to Dr. Cranium , the family physician , who tries to give John a tonic - John promptly spits out chocolate syrup and a chocolate spoon . Dr. Cranium decides to name the disease `` Cranium 's disease '' and Mrs. Midas cries when she finds out about the disease . In order to comfort her , John tries to kiss his mother , who also turns to chocolate . Horrified , he rushes to the candy store , which has now reappeared , and the chocolate vendor offers him a choice between removing the Chocolate Touch and restoring his mother : John asks the shopkeeper to help his mother and the shopkeeper forgives him . Everything returns to normal , including Mrs. Midas , and the candy store disappears once and for all . Themes ( edit ) The Chocolate Touch covers roughly the same narrative as the myth of King Midas , but in changing the object of its protagonist 's desire , modifies its target in significant ways . The myth of King Midas , who loved gold above all things , targets greed as its main theme , while The Chocolate Touch highlights another of the Seven Deadly Sins , gluttony . Both stories deal with self - centeredness vs. compassion , though The Chocolate Touch does so in a manner accessible to children , although John 's self - centeredness is unlike most other cases of self - centeredness that put other people at a disadvantage ; in John 's case he wants his family to stop telling him what he can and can not eat . Significance ( edit ) The Chocolate Touch is still in print , and is often used in grade school curricula throughout the United States . It won the Massachusetts Children 's Book Award in 1989 , the Utah Children 's Choice Honors Award in 1983 , and the Beehive Award from the Children 's Literature Association of Utah in 1983 . References ( edit ) Jump up ^ The Chocolate Touch at WorldCat Jump up ^ eMints National Center , `` Literature : `` The Chocolate Touch '' by Patrick Catling `` , accessed 01 - 21 - 2009 Jump up ^ ksagclassroom.org , The Chocolate Touch in course material and lesson plan , accessed 01 - 21 - 2009 Jump up ^ The Massachusetts Children 's Book Award , `` 1989 - The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Catling '' , accessed 01 - 21 - 2009 Jump up ^ Children 's Choice Honors Award , `` Utah Children 's Choice , 1983 , for The Chocolate Touch '' , accessed 01 - 21 - 2009 Jump up ^ The Utah Beehive Awards , `` Utah Children 's Fiction Book Award - The Chocolate Touch By Patrick Catling ( 1983 ) '' , accessed 01 - 21 - 2009 Children 's literature portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Chocolate_Touch&oldid=787151011 '' Categories : 1952 American novels American children 's novels Greco - Roman mythology in popular culture 1952 children 's books Hidden categories : Books with missing cover Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 23 June 2017 , at 19 : 02 . About Wikipedia
1. The Chocolate Touch - children's book
2. John Midas - protagonist
3. Magical gift - turns everything into chocolate
4. Myth of King Midas - inspiration for the story
5. Themes of gluttony and self-centeredness