The Potato Chip Champ {Author Visit}
Discovering Why Kindness Counts
Illustrated by Dawn Beacon
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What’s the point of having so much stuff—without a friend to share it with?
Champ and Walter Norbert Whipplemoore are about as different as two kids can be… well, except for their love of baseball and potato chips. Everyone on their baseball team liked Walter. Everyone but Champ, that is.
Walter was always late for practice, his shoes were old and dirty and he rode an old broken-down bike. Their differences were glaring. But that didn’t stop Walter from having a great attitude and being happy. He knew he wasn’t what he had on the outside, but who he was on the inside.
Champ, on the other hand, lacked empathy and was crabby and unkind to Walter. He just didn’t understand why Walter had so little, yet still seemed to be so popular. Didn’t the other kids realize that Champ was the coolest kid because he had so many things? In the end, though, the hard feelings of jealousy and being left out are conquered by the simple act of sharing a favorite snack in this picture book on the power of sharing, kindness and potato chips.
The best book for teaching the power of a good attitude for children, The Potato Chip Champ by award-winning author Maria Dismondy carries the key message of celebrating differences and good sportsmanship supported by the many advocates of positive parenting solutions.
This book is the perfect complement to other books for children ages 4-10 that focus on kindness, adversity and empathy, like the work of Jory John (The Cool Bean) and Sonia Sotomayor (Just Ask).
Published Reviews
In Torgan-Randall’s picture book, a duck-obsessed girl makes a friend at summer camp after she learns how to listen to others.
Margaret, depicted as a white-skinned, brown-haired girl (rather in the Charlie Brown mold), prefers to be called Ducky. She is obsessed with ducks, and, while attending camp, she works duck facts into every conversation and activity, often talking over her peers (and even the counselor). No one else is much interested, and one boy in particular—red-haired Marvin[4]—loses patience with Margaret’s garrulous duck fixation. “YOU ARE NOT A DUCK! YOU ARE MARGARET!” he tells her. Margaret is momentarily saddened, but she cheers up for the learn-to-swim activity. There, she lends her duck-shaped float-aid to Marvin. Her duck knowledge proves useful, and, more importantly, she learns about Marvin’s own obsession: rocks. Now that their interaction is less one-sided, Margaret and Marvin become friends. Torgan-Randall narrates Margaret’s tale in straightforward, non-rhyming prose, arranging pictures and text so that dialogue appears in natural blank spaces near the speaker. The present-tense constructions and faux-handwritten font lend a sense of immediacy. Torgan-Randall’s illustrations, which are hand-drawn and then digitally refined, evoke the open, ingenuous existence of young children. The campers are ethnically diverse, and all of the characters display distinct personalities (even Bill, the duck float-aid). A pre-story checklist of questions encourages readers to think about listening, communication, and friendship.
A fun, quirky little story about thriving individuality and social integration.