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100 Pounds of Popcorn
What would YOU do if you found a 100-pound bag of popping corn? Andy and his sister are delighted when it happens to them.
"Let's take it home and make a hundred pounds of popcorn," says Andy.
They soon find out that you can have too much popcorn. And before they know it, they are in the popcorn business.
But popcorn is not the only thing that starts popping. So do problems.
How DO you get rid of a hundred pounds of popcorn?
"Let's take it home and make a hundred pounds of popcorn," says Andy.
They soon find out that you can have too much popcorn. And before they know it, they are in the popcorn business.
But popcorn is not the only thing that starts popping. So do problems.
How DO you get rid of a hundred pounds of popcorn?
74 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
76 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
March 24, 2022
If you have an aspiring entrepeneur, they will LOVE this book!
It was a favorite of mine as a child and got me thinking and planning and wanting to start little businesses to make money. The story even includes business concepts that explain collateral, capital, liquidating, production and more. And if some of the characters are a touch snarky once or twice, that's not what sticks with you - it's the creativity of the children and their entrepreneurial tenacity.
Ages: 7 - 12
Cleanliness: the dad is made to look a little dumb while driving around getting lost. The son says "you're mean" to his father - I don't think he was entirely serious. The word "stupid" and "gosh" are used. A boy does "magic" tricks. A boy thinks about his sister: "he wondered how she could be so stupid and still walk around."
It was a favorite of mine as a child and got me thinking and planning and wanting to start little businesses to make money. The story even includes business concepts that explain collateral, capital, liquidating, production and more. And if some of the characters are a touch snarky once or twice, that's not what sticks with you - it's the creativity of the children and their entrepreneurial tenacity.
Ages: 7 - 12
Cleanliness: the dad is made to look a little dumb while driving around getting lost. The son says "you're mean" to his father - I don't think he was entirely serious. The word "stupid" and "gosh" are used. A boy does "magic" tricks. A boy thinks about his sister: "he wondered how she could be so stupid and still walk around."
March 21, 2021
This wretched bit of mid-century sexist capitalist propaganda masquerading as a children's book was purchased either by myself or one of my older siblings from one of those paperback book clubs in elementary school.
I read this several times as a child. Even as a child, I remember finding Mr. and Mrs. Taylor hugely disappointing in their unwillingness to help their children have any fun with the 100 pound bag of popcorn that literally drops into their lives. Mr. Taylor uses it as an opportunity to prep his son for a life of grinding work and Mrs. Taylor uses it as an opportunity to display her harried hapless housekeeper persona. She's no Mrs. Henderson, Cub Scout Den Mother and purveyor of lemonade, that's for sure.
The nuclear Taylor family, on their way home from a beach vacation and stuck in a traffic jam wherein Mrs. Taylor's lemonade jug has run empty, take a detour. They end up following a truck loaded with bags of popping corn; one falls off the truck and the family ends up with ownership of the bag. I say family, but since Andy is the oldest and a boy, he gets to claim the booty, planning to pop and sell it and use his calculated profits of $225 to buy a chemistry set with which to make atomic power or a telescope like the one at Mount Palomar. Buzzkill mom makes him share the profits with younger sister Sally Jean, who "generally [says] the wrong thing" and who Andy later characterizes as so stupid he wonders how she is still walking around. Sally Jean, of course, plans to use her profits to buy a queen doll with a golden crown and real fur coat.
The 100 pound bag of popcorn bonanza will not be allowed to turn into a fun lemonade stand-like experience for the kids, or even to be shared out with friends and neighbors. No. Back at the Taylor ranch [home], Mom vanishes into the kitchen and Dad begins to instruct Andy (but not Sally Jean) on the basics of running a business in capitalist America. Andy and his (not his and Sally Jean's) partners need raw materials - oil and butter. Dad will provide them if they offer up collateral. Andy can't give up his baseball mitt so Andy and his baseball pals, Sally Jean and her Brownie friends fan out to do odd jobs to raise $10 to buy the oil and butter from Mr. Taylor. They work their asses off in the summer heat, raise the cash, and are now ready to enter "production."
Right away they have to cut the price of bags of popcorn from 15 cents to 10 cents because they live in a neighborhood full of Scrooges who don't want to buy popcorn from children unless they can get a good deal. Also after two or three days the Scrooges are sick of popcorn and want the children to fuck off. However, these same people, gathered at the Big Baseball Game - Westville v. Midland Valley, one for the history books - eagerly buy up popcorn purveyed by the Brownies while the boys fight a heroic battle out on the diamond. Andy nearly blows the game for Westville because Sally Jean spills her popcorn money and starts wailing, distracting him at the exact time he needs to be catching Big Paddy Ryan's fly ball. Stupid Sally Jean. If it wasn't for her clumsiness, that potato eater's ball would never have gotten by brave Andy Taylor. And now they can't sell popcorn at the games anymore.
So they move on, deciding to sell outside the movie theater, undercutting the 15 cents a bag popcorn available inside the theater. They do a brisk business till the theater popcorn man calls the cops. Since they are white kids illegally selling popcorn on the street, the policeman buys a bag from them with a smile and kindly requests them to stop breaking the law. They keep breathing and go on home to figure out a new plan. The new plan is to have a talent show in the Henderson's garage and sell popcorn at intermission.
This is an opportunity for the author to offer a disquisition on the folly of Mr. Henderson's garage, which didn't even come with the house. He built it extra large to hold two cars, the bicycles, the baby carriage, the lawnmower etc. but the damn thing is so big there's practically no lawn left, so who needs a mower. And there are never cars in it anyway, because it got used for Cub Scout Den 3 (Mrs. Henderson is the Den Mother) and a rainy-day gym for the neighborhood. Stupid Mr. Henderson.
Anyway, the talent show. The boys will display all their fabulous talents - magic tricks, playing musical instruments, standing on their heads - while the girls will dress up in leotards and dance and look beautiful. Because that's the kind of talent girls have. In a side plot, one of the boys mocks the girl who is most obsessed with her appearance=talent, while Sally Jean and her best friend secretly observe him. They learn the important lesson that while girls are ornaments meant to be seen, it's best not to be too ornamental and/or too aware of one's ornamental status.
The talent show is a hit, with the ornaments doing double duty as popcorn vendors during intermissions while the boys count coins. Eventually the audience gets thirsty and Mrs. Henderson appears with lemonade. (She's no Mrs. Taylor.) After the show, the kids decide they are freaking tired of being entrepreneurs and just want to go swimming, so it's time to liquidate the business and do some profit sharing. Because there are too many dimes for the lazy boys to count and everyone knows girls can't do math, they take the coins to the bank. There the tellers count up the money, convert it to bills, and give the kids another lesson in capitalism to explain where all their profits went - adjusting selling price, spoilage, labor, raw materials, advertising, and rent. It really sucks trying to start a business, kids.
The total profits for weeks of hard labor are $55, or $5 per kid with $5 left over which all the boys (no girls vote) award to Andy because it was "his" popcorn. He does not elect to give $2.50 of this $5 to Sally Jean, because everyone knows girls are paid less than boys. Thanks to being the CEO who gets paid more than regular labor, Andy is able to donate $1 to a financially strapped Cub Scout group, purchase a microscope with which he can investigate the world around him and further his dreams of becoming a scientist, and add 50 cents to his college savings fund. Stupid Sally Jean probably bought a doll and some ice cream; who knows, because she has long since vanished from the narrative.
Andy probably grew up to be one of the assholes I took science and engineering classes with in undergrad and grad school. I imagine Sally Jean majored in English, got swept up in second wave feminism, and cut Andy out of her life for good.
I read this several times as a child. Even as a child, I remember finding Mr. and Mrs. Taylor hugely disappointing in their unwillingness to help their children have any fun with the 100 pound bag of popcorn that literally drops into their lives. Mr. Taylor uses it as an opportunity to prep his son for a life of grinding work and Mrs. Taylor uses it as an opportunity to display her harried hapless housekeeper persona. She's no Mrs. Henderson, Cub Scout Den Mother and purveyor of lemonade, that's for sure.
The nuclear Taylor family, on their way home from a beach vacation and stuck in a traffic jam wherein Mrs. Taylor's lemonade jug has run empty, take a detour. They end up following a truck loaded with bags of popping corn; one falls off the truck and the family ends up with ownership of the bag. I say family, but since Andy is the oldest and a boy, he gets to claim the booty, planning to pop and sell it and use his calculated profits of $225 to buy a chemistry set with which to make atomic power or a telescope like the one at Mount Palomar. Buzzkill mom makes him share the profits with younger sister Sally Jean, who "generally [says] the wrong thing" and who Andy later characterizes as so stupid he wonders how she is still walking around. Sally Jean, of course, plans to use her profits to buy a queen doll with a golden crown and real fur coat.
The 100 pound bag of popcorn bonanza will not be allowed to turn into a fun lemonade stand-like experience for the kids, or even to be shared out with friends and neighbors. No. Back at the Taylor ranch [home], Mom vanishes into the kitchen and Dad begins to instruct Andy (but not Sally Jean) on the basics of running a business in capitalist America. Andy and his (not his and Sally Jean's) partners need raw materials - oil and butter. Dad will provide them if they offer up collateral. Andy can't give up his baseball mitt so Andy and his baseball pals, Sally Jean and her Brownie friends fan out to do odd jobs to raise $10 to buy the oil and butter from Mr. Taylor. They work their asses off in the summer heat, raise the cash, and are now ready to enter "production."
Right away they have to cut the price of bags of popcorn from 15 cents to 10 cents because they live in a neighborhood full of Scrooges who don't want to buy popcorn from children unless they can get a good deal. Also after two or three days the Scrooges are sick of popcorn and want the children to fuck off. However, these same people, gathered at the Big Baseball Game - Westville v. Midland Valley, one for the history books - eagerly buy up popcorn purveyed by the Brownies while the boys fight a heroic battle out on the diamond. Andy nearly blows the game for Westville because Sally Jean spills her popcorn money and starts wailing, distracting him at the exact time he needs to be catching Big Paddy Ryan's fly ball. Stupid Sally Jean. If it wasn't for her clumsiness, that potato eater's ball would never have gotten by brave Andy Taylor. And now they can't sell popcorn at the games anymore.
So they move on, deciding to sell outside the movie theater, undercutting the 15 cents a bag popcorn available inside the theater. They do a brisk business till the theater popcorn man calls the cops. Since they are white kids illegally selling popcorn on the street, the policeman buys a bag from them with a smile and kindly requests them to stop breaking the law. They keep breathing and go on home to figure out a new plan. The new plan is to have a talent show in the Henderson's garage and sell popcorn at intermission.
This is an opportunity for the author to offer a disquisition on the folly of Mr. Henderson's garage, which didn't even come with the house. He built it extra large to hold two cars, the bicycles, the baby carriage, the lawnmower etc. but the damn thing is so big there's practically no lawn left, so who needs a mower. And there are never cars in it anyway, because it got used for Cub Scout Den 3 (Mrs. Henderson is the Den Mother) and a rainy-day gym for the neighborhood. Stupid Mr. Henderson.
Anyway, the talent show. The boys will display all their fabulous talents - magic tricks, playing musical instruments, standing on their heads - while the girls will dress up in leotards and dance and look beautiful. Because that's the kind of talent girls have. In a side plot, one of the boys mocks the girl who is most obsessed with her appearance=talent, while Sally Jean and her best friend secretly observe him. They learn the important lesson that while girls are ornaments meant to be seen, it's best not to be too ornamental and/or too aware of one's ornamental status.
The talent show is a hit, with the ornaments doing double duty as popcorn vendors during intermissions while the boys count coins. Eventually the audience gets thirsty and Mrs. Henderson appears with lemonade. (She's no Mrs. Taylor.) After the show, the kids decide they are freaking tired of being entrepreneurs and just want to go swimming, so it's time to liquidate the business and do some profit sharing. Because there are too many dimes for the lazy boys to count and everyone knows girls can't do math, they take the coins to the bank. There the tellers count up the money, convert it to bills, and give the kids another lesson in capitalism to explain where all their profits went - adjusting selling price, spoilage, labor, raw materials, advertising, and rent. It really sucks trying to start a business, kids.
The total profits for weeks of hard labor are $55, or $5 per kid with $5 left over which all the boys (no girls vote) award to Andy because it was "his" popcorn. He does not elect to give $2.50 of this $5 to Sally Jean, because everyone knows girls are paid less than boys. Thanks to being the CEO who gets paid more than regular labor, Andy is able to donate $1 to a financially strapped Cub Scout group, purchase a microscope with which he can investigate the world around him and further his dreams of becoming a scientist, and add 50 cents to his college savings fund. Stupid Sally Jean probably bought a doll and some ice cream; who knows, because she has long since vanished from the narrative.
Andy probably grew up to be one of the assholes I took science and engineering classes with in undergrad and grad school. I imagine Sally Jean majored in English, got swept up in second wave feminism, and cut Andy out of her life for good.
June 24, 2018
This book inspired me when I was young (about 7 or so), I lived in deep rural Idaho where a trip to the store was an hour long drive, I bought it and finished before we even got home. Soon after reading about the kids’ popcorn business I was going to the store and buying bulk candy with my small savings and selling them individually to the other kids in the school, I am proud to say my parents’ attitude was pretty much the same as the parents in the book. It worked really well until it suddenly caught on with every other kid in my class, then selling candy to other kids at school was banned, another example of the irony in American schools.
July 1, 2021
I don't remember everything about this book, but I remember really enjoying it as a child. I also learned that when you have a business, you have a lot of expenses, so your income is going to be a LOT less than your receipts, even with 100 lbs of free popcorn!
I approved what the hero bought with the money he did manage to earn.
I approved what the hero bought with the money he did manage to earn.
August 13, 2023
I read this book growing up, so it has nostalgic value to me. We just found this copy at a thrift store while visiting my brother in Tennessee.
The illustrations are great. I just reread it in under an hour. A nice little story about running a business for kids. One or two name calling instances between kids.
The illustrations are great. I just reread it in under an hour. A nice little story about running a business for kids. One or two name calling instances between kids.
January 6, 2017
I loved this book as a kid and had fun rereading it to mine. It's a great primer on running your own business and shows the kids working out problems, dealing with disappointment, finding solutions and feeling proud of doing it on their own. Published in 1961, so there are some annoying gender anachronisms, but the hands-off support offered by the books' grownups is refreshing in an era of parental micro-management. My child said, 'I liked how the grownups talked to them!' Me too.
January 18, 2020
We found what appears to be a first-print edition of the book while sorting through childhood items at my parents' house - although it was missing the first three pages, I read the story to my 7-year-old daughter. She love listening to the challenges the children had and easily followed the plot. I think it's pretty cool that she enjoyed a book written well before she existed, and she wants to write the sequel ... 200 Pounds of Popcorn! :)
March 4, 2021
I loved this book as a child and have read it to my children and grandchildren as well. It takes the story of a little boy who finds 110 pounds of popcorn and decides to sell it to purchase something he wants.
He goes through the steps of setting up a business and the challenges and rewards of having one. It gives wonderful examples of running a business from a child's perspective and encourages children to find ways to earn money through ingenuity and hard work.
He goes through the steps of setting up a business and the challenges and rewards of having one. It gives wonderful examples of running a business from a child's perspective and encourages children to find ways to earn money through ingenuity and hard work.
October 5, 2021
This was an elementary level book on how a business works. Andy and his sister found a 100 lb. bag of corn kernels and began dreaming of the riches they could make by selling it as popcorn. Not long afterwards, they began finding all these problems they'd have to overcome to be successful. It took me maybe 30 minutes to complete, but I'm glad I read it. Every business functions somewhat like this.
December 3, 2014
Cute book! The kids learned a lot about entrepreneurship. The two year had enough of listening about popcorn and not eating it...so we finished with a bowl of popcorn.
September 3, 2017
6 star book!
The first book i ever read on my own.
The first book i ever read on my own.
July 22, 2020
I'd give this 4/5 stars if you could remove the gender depictions. I read it as a child (late 70s), I loved it. As other reviewers have noted, it is a good primer on entrepreneurship.
However, reading it to my daughter, there is a lot that is just gross. The boys make the business decisions, the girls carry it out. For the talent show, the boys display various talents -- music, singing, magic and juggling. The girls dance, that's it. One of them gets to be the most beautiful -- and is roundly mocked by everyone. The boys other activities are important, like baseball, whereas the girls just sell popcorn. The father explains how to be a "businessman" at his leisure in the living room, whereas the mother is busy in the kitchen.
However, reading it to my daughter, there is a lot that is just gross. The boys make the business decisions, the girls carry it out. For the talent show, the boys display various talents -- music, singing, magic and juggling. The girls dance, that's it. One of them gets to be the most beautiful -- and is roundly mocked by everyone. The boys other activities are important, like baseball, whereas the girls just sell popcorn. The father explains how to be a "businessman" at his leisure in the living room, whereas the mother is busy in the kitchen.
March 21, 2022
*Cute book I read to my kids. Great learning experience about running a popcorn business. The kids are great at coming up with ideas on how to make money with a 100 pound bag of popcorn they’ll at they found. Fun story.
November 3, 2024
An ok story, rather slow. It felt like one that was in a classroom reader in the 60s. Squeaky clean kids that learn about running a business. Yawn. I had hoped for a Henry Reed or Mad Scientist's Club kind of story. I quite liked the illustrations.
March 15, 2020
Loved this, but mostly I think because it made me think of buttered popcorn the whole time I was reading it.
September 21, 2024
There's a few societal things that could stand some extra scrutiny, but at the end is the day this is a delightful book about children learning the value of money and hard work.
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February 15, 2017Didn't we all read this in the 1970's?
March 17, 2020
What a cute, fun book. I found it at a small antique store and thought it looked interesting. I love popcorn myself, and have also always enjoyed reading books from the sixties - ones aimed at children and others that don't completely fit in the juvenile category.
"100 Pounds of Popcorn" is satisfying, pleasant, and charming. The children learn how to make profits through selling popcorn, and gain a lot of knowledge on how to run a business. The characters were likable and fun, and the story was simplistic yet enjoyable and entertaining. It may not be a timeless classic in my eyes - to me it isn't quite groundbreaking and didn't leave a big impression on me - but it still never fails to delight.
Also love the illustrations sprinkled throughout the book. I've always admired the particular style of art during that time period; it's simplistic and wholesome.
3/5
"100 Pounds of Popcorn" is satisfying, pleasant, and charming. The children learn how to make profits through selling popcorn, and gain a lot of knowledge on how to run a business. The characters were likable and fun, and the story was simplistic yet enjoyable and entertaining. It may not be a timeless classic in my eyes - to me it isn't quite groundbreaking and didn't leave a big impression on me - but it still never fails to delight.
Also love the illustrations sprinkled throughout the book. I've always admired the particular style of art during that time period; it's simplistic and wholesome.
3/5
December 12, 2012
I picked this one up in a box of used books and read it for the title alone (I am rather popcorn obsessed). It is a very old fashioned children's book, where the children are much more industrious and persistent than most kids I know today (they acquire a 100 pound bag of popcorn kernels and invest in a way to pop and sell the whole of it). Perhaps mothers today are more protective (I wouldn't let the neighborhood kids come in and pop all that corn without some supervision--and indeed they burned a lot of it), or perhaps this story is just impractical in today's world. It almost reads more like fantasy. But it was fun to see retro illustrations and envision all that popcorn!
October 2, 2013
I first read this in second grade (year 1982 wow I feel old!) and never forgot it. Good story about kids who try and make money in a time when kids were allowed to be kids and grown-ups understood the importance of acting their age and setting a good example for their children. Similiar to a Henry Huggins story by Beverly Cleary when he found a bunch of boxes full of gumballs and tried to make money selling them to all his friends.
Just seeing the cover makes me want popcorn!
Just seeing the cover makes me want popcorn!
May 15, 2010
I read this over and over as a kid, probably because I was a slow reader and it's a fast read. I just read it to my kids and they really enjoyed it. It sparked some fun conversations about the basic elements of running a business.
March 5, 2009
I loved this book as a child and couldn't remember the title. I found it on this site. I need to read it again.
September 16, 2013
Read this one to the kids and they LOVED it. Funny and quick with lots of imagination and spirit. Almost a five stars. (Reread with Holly Jaren in September 2013)
November 13, 2009
i read this as a child, and i loved it. just the thought of popcorn filling the room was amazing to me. read this one to your children, friends children, grandchildren, etc. it is just so much fun!
February 10, 2011
Read this as a kid and loved it; read it several times and never forgot the story. so, so good!
February 14, 2012
Read it when I was 10 years old. Great fun!
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November 1, 2017ook Review:
I read this book called 100 pounds of popcorn. It was about this family that found 100 pounds of popcorn on the side of the road and they brought it home. He wanted to start selling it but he had to bring some friends over to help him pop the popcorn. There names were Barry Lindhofer, Sally Jean, and Peggy Marshall they all agreed on 15¢ or 10¢ for the price of the popcorn. Then they started a business and it went very well and they made a lot of money. They sold so much that even a theater offered for there popcorn. They all agreed on getting 10$ a day. In the end they had a party that the Henderson’s house.
One of my favorite things I liked about the book was that they They made money from the popcorn that they sold And I think that is cool because they made money for basically free because they found the 100 pounds of popcorn on the street. Another thing I liked was It was funny because they were just going on a hot road trip and they found that bag of popcorn that's why I think its funny. The last thing that I liked was that there were Good details because they described how the popcorn looked how big it was and they described their friends that that were helping here. The only thing that I didn’t like about the book was that there was only one picture.
I would recommend this book to people that like comedy books because it is funny how they found 100 pounds of popcorn on the road. Another thing that I like is that it has good details like when they described the popcorn.
I read this book called 100 pounds of popcorn. It was about this family that found 100 pounds of popcorn on the side of the road and they brought it home. He wanted to start selling it but he had to bring some friends over to help him pop the popcorn. There names were Barry Lindhofer, Sally Jean, and Peggy Marshall they all agreed on 15¢ or 10¢ for the price of the popcorn. Then they started a business and it went very well and they made a lot of money. They sold so much that even a theater offered for there popcorn. They all agreed on getting 10$ a day. In the end they had a party that the Henderson’s house.
One of my favorite things I liked about the book was that they They made money from the popcorn that they sold And I think that is cool because they made money for basically free because they found the 100 pounds of popcorn on the street. Another thing I liked was It was funny because they were just going on a hot road trip and they found that bag of popcorn that's why I think its funny. The last thing that I liked was that there were Good details because they described how the popcorn looked how big it was and they described their friends that that were helping here. The only thing that I didn’t like about the book was that there was only one picture.
I would recommend this book to people that like comedy books because it is funny how they found 100 pounds of popcorn on the road. Another thing that I like is that it has good details like when they described the popcorn.
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