One Potato, Two Potato
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Mr. and Mrs. O’Grady are so poor they have just one of everything to share – one potato a day, one chair, one blanket full of holes, and one gold coin for a rainy day. After digging up the last potato in their patch, Mr. O’Grady comes upon a big black object. It’s a pot – no ordinary pot, for what they soon discover is that whatever goes into it comes out doubled! Suddenly the O’Gradys aren’t destitute anymore. But what they really long for is one friend apiece. Can the magic pot give them that? This retelling of a Chinese folktale pays tribute to the author’s Irish heritage, and to the joys of an old marriage, new friendships, and the impulse to share. Using pen and gouache, the artist shows the “simple” characters in all their winning complexity. One Potato, Two Potato is a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
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I'm predicting this will be next year's winning book. Mr. and Mrs. O'Grady are terribly poor, so poor they must share everything, even their blanket, their coat, and, each day, a single potato. Then Mr. O'Grady digs up a black pot with the mysterious power to double everything put into it. The O'Gradys are now magnificently rich. Then Mrs. O'Grady falls into the pot and Mr. O'Grady jumps in. The two have everything they need in life, including friendship.
I especially liked how the O'Gradys, after coming into such wealth, took the pot back and buried it again, for someone else to find and use.
