Two Old Potatoes and Me

by John Coy, Carolyn Fisher (Illustrator)

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 dad and 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.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Food, Gardening, Family, Fiction, Divorce

40 pages, Hardcover

First published June 10, 2003

About the author

John Coy is the author of young adult novels, the 4 for 4 middle-grade series, and fiction and nonfiction picture books. John has received numerous awards for his work including a Marion Vannett Ridgway Award for best first picture book, a Charlotte Zolotow Honor, Bank Street College Best Book of the Year, Notable Book for a Global Society, and the Burr/Warzalla Award for Distinguished Achievement in Children’s Literature. He lives in Minneapolis and visits schools around the world.

Reviews

[Luisa Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

While visiting her father, a little girl and her dad plant two old potatoes and watch them grow into many potatoes.

Not my favorite art style.

Ages: 4 - 8

Content Considerations: the child’s parents are divorced.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two Old Potatoes and Me is a really simple book about coping with divorce and growing potatoes, making for a cute little story about a father and daughter trying to make new memories.

The art in this one is a love it or leave kind of style, reminiscent of a messy scrapbook. It’s really energetic and makes a rather mundane subject, like growing potatoes, into something a bit more lively and vibrant. It also really matches the story well, reflecting both the jumble of feelings as the two adjust and the happiness they find in a simple task.


This would definitely make for a great activity book as well, and it seems like a fun idea to use this a starting point to growing your own potato. I really like that this one touches on divorce as well. It’s subtle, so you can focus on the potatoes if it doesn’t apply but having it in there not only helps with reading diversity but possibly with kids who are having trouble adjusting themselves.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ever wanted to grow potatoes with your kids? Read this with them! Great father/daughter bonding story where the girl gets to learn how to plant and grow their own potatoes. This actually covers a lot of basic details that impressed me.

What I didn't care for so much was the art. Especially the characters (eyes in particular). Too jumbled and just looked sloppy to me. You know it is bad when a few kids in the group you are reading to comment on how they can color better and how the artist couldn't stay in the lines.

I am torn about how the story is told. The words are wrapped around the pictures. part of me finds in unique and created. Yet it also seemed to add to the jumbled chaos of the images and the kids have to work and find the next sentence which could add frustration when it throws them off I learned.

So story is great but would love to see new art style attached.

[RLL220 Kendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love to read realistic fiction. This book was very enjoyable it was short sweet and to the point. This was actually my first time reading a realistic fiction picture book. Two Old Potatoes was about a young girl and her father pretty much bonding over her discovery of two old potatoes she found in the cupboard. The young girl and her father decided to take something old and make new of it just as her parents did with their recent divorce. I felt this was a great story and also relatable to my situation. I feel this story will also be relatable to school aged kids because parents divorce everyday. I enjoyed that no matter what house the young girl was living in she was still able to bond with her father and even invited to see her new periwinkle room at her moms house. The illustration of this book was phenomenal it kept me engaged. I love how the story flows with he picture and how much color was involved it seemed as if Carolyn Fisher used oral pastels and water color.

[Marjorie Ingall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, such disdain for this book's art here on Goodreads! This is crazy talk. The art is amazing, outsider-y (yeah, I know, whatever that means), jumbly and bright and exciting. You need lively art for a story about GROWING BACKYARD POTATOES. Though wait, no you don't. Because the language here is so sprightly and there is ACTUAL SUSPENSE about whether the potatoes will grow. I loved this warm daddy-daughter story (with a casual exchange, "How's your bedroom at your mom's coming?" "Good. Mom and I painted it periwinkle") that would be comforting for kids with newly divorced parents.

Such lively art, so much to look at, such spiffy language. Haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate.

[Cortney Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story shares how to take old potatoes and make new ones out of them. The little girl and her dad plant two old potatoes and await the arrival of the new potatoes. The little girl and her dad work and care in the garden. They finally dig up the dirt in the garden and are happy to find fifty potatoes. The story counts the potatoes up until the number seven. So it could be a good read to younger students to discuss counting and introducing numbers. It's also a good story to talk about how two old potatoes created fifty new ones.

[CreateEveryday Classroom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love SO MANY things about this book
The anticipation, the illustrations, the "neutral"presentation of a child living with two parents who do not live together, gardening, the idea of using something old and worn out to create something new, cooking, recipes...I could keep going!
BRAVO for THIS BOOK!

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally like this illustrative style, but the story was so good that I can look past it! This story has a lot going for it- diverse characters, a present and caring father, gardening metaphors, and the most subtle of references to a divorce and staying with different parents. I think that for older children, it's nice to see their type of family in a book like this, especially since it's just so normal and casually mentioned. Also, staying with dad is a nice angle, too.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Making new memories after a divorce can be as simple as growing new life from old roots. This dad and daughter find a way to make a new connection as they plant potato buds and watch them grow and flourish.

[Shaunterria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful story about plants, gardening, and how families change and grow. The college -style illustrations can be a bit hard to follow for storytelling purposes, but the children were able to figure it out. Recommended for Earth Day/Growing Things storytimes.

[Katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading a few of the books for the JMG Literature in the Garden course.

[Rachel Coyne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is like a 10 star book in our house. We have read it over and over

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice story but the kids thought the illustrations were “creepy”.

[thedailydiva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading Rainbow Season 20, Episode 5

[Mariama ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful

Fresh and sweet, just like good garden vegetables. The story and innovative illustrations just make me smile and feel happy.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird but amazing artwork!

[Sherry Tobin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pictures were the favorite, very colorful book. Would love to reread during spring and planting time would make an easier connection

[Grace Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

The importance of family, modern family, and composting.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute book for kids about resourcefulness and gardening

[Mili Fay · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Two Old Potatoes and Me" by John Coy, illustrated by Carolyn Fisher (2003)
Alfred A. Knopf--New York

I really liked this book. It is a simple story about growing new potatoes from old, but the author manages to keep the wonder of the project alive. The story is also a bit bittersweet, because the girl's parents are divorced. However, I appreciate that the author shows a real family structure, rather than the cookie-cutter happy family I usually see in children's books and TV shows.

I shuddered at the part where the girl was picking off beetles from potato leaves--"GROSS!"

I also like that there is a mashed potatoes recipe at the end. I have never placed nutmeg on mine. I will try this recipe in the future.

I found the pictures too busy at the first glance. There were many textures and colours, and spiralling sentences... I did not know where to look. However, that is what I love about picture books--unlike a TV show where the viewer has to absorb the image instantly, a reader can take the time to explore the illustrations. They are very interesting, and unlike anything I have seen before. However, the illustrations do not draw me as an artist, so I would not purchase this book for myself. Once I have children in my life, it may find a way to my shelf. :-)

[Ashley Dement · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the Two Old Potatoes and I believe that children will too. The illustrations were very unique and plentiful. I loved that pages had a lot going on in them; they were lined with various colors and pictures and word boxes all over the pages. The book refers to asking grandparents for advice because they will know. This encourages students to ask adults for answers to their questions because they are knowledgeable. This book can be used in a science lesson to illustrate the lifecycle of plants because it thoroughly describes the process of planting old potatoes and how they grow. Young children can appreciate the fact that the boy and his father did this whole experiment together and they had fun while doing it. It really does a good job of illustrating a positive father- son relationship.

[Jo ☾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

While visiting her father, a little girl finds two old potatoes at the back of a cupboard. They're so old that sprouts are growing from their eyes and she's about to throw them away when her father stops her and says they can grow new potatoes from the old ones. The story follows them through the growing season as they tend to their potatoes in the garden and eventually dig them up and make mashed potatoes.

The story also addresses divorce in a brief and subtle way when the father asks how the little girl likes her room at her mom's house.

Loved the story but not really a fan of the illustrations. Great for learning how to grow potatoes though as all the steps are included! There's even a recipe at the end of the book for mashed potatoes.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young girl wants to throw away 2 old potatoes with lots of sprouts growing out of them. Her father suggests they try planting them. So they dig and plant and water and weed and wait. Eventually they dig up the little plants and under some there is nothing. Under others there are many potatoes. Both father and daughter enjoy their favorite potato: mashed with lots of butter and a pinch of nutmeg for good luck.

I love this story. My issue is with the illustrations. The illustrations are curvy and all over the page, which is not, in and of itself, a bad thing. However, the overall color of the book is dark: soil, potatoes, dark-skinned characters. It becomes hard to read the dark text. It doesn't pop out at the reader.

Not a good read-aloud.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love how the text is woven into the artwork in most of the pages. Lovely story about some quality time with dad. Her mother and father aren't together...there's a part where the father asks how the room at her mom's house is coming along and about seeing her room on Friday when he comes to pick her up. What I love about it was that it was a feel-good story about a project that a father and daughter go through with finding old potatoes, planting them together, the upkeep during the season, and finishing with feasting on mash potatoes from the new potatoes they grew. Just an overall lovely feeling from this book.

Includes a recipe for Mashed Potatoes in the back.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 STARS

The story grew on me as I read it. At first the illustrations felt very jumbled and not really my style of art, but I ended up enjoying the story. Not only is it an interesting gardening story (I like that we see so many aspects of the process) but the message is a nice one, how something that we might initially perceive to have no value really deserves another look. It was also refreshing to see a story where the parents' divorce was deftly incorporated into the story, rather than it being too stand-out.

[Lesley Looper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a charming story about a father and young daughter who have a several-months-long gardening experience together. They grow potatoes in the backyard, with the advice of Grandpa on what to do. After several months, they did up the potatoes and make mash potatoes together (recipe in the back). Really enjoyed reading about the gardening process, and the illustrations throughout the book are a lot of fun! Bravo!

[Jackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pleasant story about a father and his daughter who grow lots of new potatoes from Two Old Potatoes. The bonding that happens between them is inspiring, since the daughter lives with her mom most of the time. Even though the story is appealing, the illustrations are creepy and weird. Kids will find them dark and unappealing.

Used for "It's Green and Leafy: Not Trees...Vegetables!" storytime-April, 2010.

[Wildflower · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, how I love this book! The art is amazing, the story is amazing, the hidden meaning is amazing. On multiple levels, this is an excellent book for bonding! It is about a daughter and her father, whom do not live together, and they share the experience of growing potatoes from 2 rotten potatoes that were found in the kitchen.I do not want to give away anything else, you must read this with your children . . . it IS THAT GOOD.

[Ms. B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another one of those books that I have been meaning to read for years. Now that I've read it and see that it's already 10 years old, I am wondering if it's considered a classic. It should be; it's one of those rare picture books that works on so many levels.
A beautiful story about a girl and a dad who bond by growing two old potatoes together. Use this one for plant and gardening units,showing that something that looks like junk can be beautiful, or units about families.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting story, and hopefully has and will inspire children to plant and grow their own potatoes; or at least try out the mashed potato recipe at the end. The father/daughter discussions and working together were very well depicted. I am not a big fan of this style of illustration by Carolyn Fisher, which reminds me of Chris Raschka's style. But I have to admit that the illustrations worked well with the text.