4 out of 4 stars
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Four Funny Potatoes! by Len Foley is an amusing children's book surrounding three potatoes and their friend Benny the banana as they all come together to sing a song.
The book opens with a green bean directing a musical involving the three potatoes as they put on their nightly show consisting of a rhyming song and dance. The potatoes cheerfully refer to their friend Benny in the same way that they do themselves, labeling him as a potato rather than a banana, much to his dismay. He attempts to correct them multiple times and inform them that he is, in fact, not a potato but a banana, though they don't seem to pay him any mind. His protest eventually upsets the director and leads to the show coming to an abrupt halt as Benny tries one more time to explain to everyone how he differentiates from them.
When I first saw this book on Book of the Day, I found myself really admiring the message the story contained. I think it's of the utmost importance that we teach children from a young age that all people are different, and that it's perfectly okay for someone to be dissimilar, or that it should even be celebrated. I think that this book speaks perfectly to current events and modern issues involving identity in our society. The book doesn't speak down to or preach to the audience, and instead presents a character who simply wants others to properly refer to them in a way that they prefer. It's concise and lighthearted, appropriate for its young audience.
I am happy to rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. Obviously, with it being a short children's story consisting mostly of pictures and limited writing, there wasn't much room for there to be any grammar errors, and I didn't notice any while reading. I think my only complaint was that there were a few lines with awkward rhyming or parts where the rhyming would end. I doubt that this would impact a child's enjoyment of the story, however. The art was amusing and creative, utilizing real photos off fruit with cartoon faces and features drawn digitally onto them, giving them wonderful expressions and a lot of life. The text itself was colorful, and the author implemented different font sizes for emphasis and comedic effect, and the ending of the story caught me off guard and had me chuckling to myself as it concluded. I especially find it adorable that Len dedicated the book to his niece, his inspiration for the book.
Due to the story's simple phrasing and goofy contents, this book would be best suited for a young audience aged two to seven. This book would be particularly perfect for children learning how to read, or ones that love beind read to. Children in the second grade and up will most likely want to skip this one, however, as it wouldn't be challenging or perhaps engaging enough for them.
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Four Funny Potatoes!
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