The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Speed, Toby

Brave Potatoes

32 pp. | Putnam | May, 2000 | Trade ISBN 0-399-23158-7 $$15.99

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Barry Root. A peck of bug-eyed prize potatoes tiptoe out of the "Bud and Bean Arena" at the County Fair, and roll through the midway on a daring rescue mission: to save their fellow veggies from the fiendish Chef Hackemup. Speed's inventive, rhythmic verse is well spiced with wit. Thankfully, Root doesn't personify the sliced vegetables (unlike the horrified survivors) in his intense--and intensely colored--illustrations.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2000