The Potato King
by Christoph Niemann (Author) Christoph Niemann (Illustrator)
Once upon a time there was a Prussian King, Frederick, also known as Fritz, who saw potential in the lowly potato -- a newly introduced crop from South America -- and decided to plant it for his people. However, it quickly became clear that his subjects didn't like being told what to eat. Determined to see the potato thrive, Fritz cleverly used reverse psychology to pique his people's curiosity and make the crop popular, and the potato has flourished ever since.
Potato-stamp illustrations throughout are simple and effective, exhibiting Niemann's trademark wit and playfulness. The book includes a short informational note on the historical background to the story. Readers will be interested to discover how one of today's most common foods likely rose to popularity and may also be inspired by the king's creative problem solving.
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Publisher's Weekly
King Frederick of Prussia's legendary attempts to urge his subjects to eat potatoes might be apocryphal, but Niemann's (That's How!) smart retelling, adapted from a 2012 installment of his visual column in the New York Times, offers a bushel of laughs. What better medium could be imagined for the tale than potato prints? "Hear, hear," a red potato-printed King Fritz announces to his subjects, printed in blue. "I give you the potato. It costs little to grow and is healthy to boot!" He stands on a potato to make his proclamation-a photograph of a potato, that is, startlingly lifelike and three-dimensional when set against the clean, white page. His subjects are unimpressed. One chucks a potato at him, its trajectory traced in potato-printed dashes. Then the king has an idea. He forbids access to his potato field, guarding it with dozens of soldiers. Sure enough, thieves break in ("If a vegetable has to be so closely guarded, there must be something special about it"), and everyone is soon growing and eating potatoes. The retelling sparkles, and a medium that might have hampered Niemann instead spurs his creativity. Ages 3-7.
Copyright 2015 Publisher’s Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
School Library Journal
K-Gr 2-An utterly delightful telling of how Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, introduced the potato to his subjects in the 1700s. Fanciful potato prints illustrate King Fritz who had the idea, the soldiers pretending to guard the strange new plants, and the villagers whose curiosity was so aroused by such security that they stole the food they had at first rejected-just as the monarch planned. The characters in this saga-king, villagers, soldiers, horses, plants-are green, blue, red, potato print silhouettes, and each page features the star of the story, a full-color photograph of a potato. Although this is admittedly an unusual choice for a picture book, it would be great for a storytelling program, as well as a creative jump-start for a potato-print craft program for older readers. VERDICT This story of the acceptance of the South American staple and the beginning of its rise to the fourth-largest food crop in the world belongs in most collections.
Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Kirkus
Review quotes
JUV022000 - Juvenile Fiction | Legends, Myths, & Fables | General
JUV030050 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | Europe
