The Enormous Potato

Krystyna Higgins is the former book review editor for the Catholic New
Times.

“There once was a farmer who had an eye. It wasn’t like your eye or
my eye. It was a potato eye.” So begins Aubrey Davis’s delightful
version of an old European folk tale. Once planted, that eye grows into
“the biggest potato in the world.” Unable to pull it out unaided,
the farmer seeks the help of his wife, followed by his daughter, the
dog, the cat, and a mouse. Their combined efforts are at last
successful, and they celebrate by throwing a huge potato-eating party
for all the townsfolk.

The talented partnership of Davis and Petricic, who previously
collaborated on Bone Button Borscht, has here produced a joyful, gently
humorous, and thoroughly satisfying book. The layout is at first clear
and uncluttered, almost sparse, becoming increasingly busier as the
potato grows and more people become involved. Petricic’s backgrounds
are a glowing, buttery yellow, and the faces of his plump farm family
and the animals are wonderfully expressive

(especially that of the smug little mouse whose help finally succeeds in
dislodging the stubborn vegetable).

Young children will enjoy the “Farmer-in-the-Dell”-style cumulative
pattern, while the story unobtrusively celebrates the values of
cooperation and generosity resulting in benefit for all. Highly
recommended.