FEBRUARY 2022 - AudioFile
Narrator Kirby Heyborne captures the hilarity and wordplay of THE COUCH POTATO, which is part of the Food Group series. Couch Potato starts out bragging about all the joys of being lazy, having many devices and never-ending screen time, and having everything you need within reach at the tap of a button. But when a power outage causes Couch Potato to reexamine his idle ways, he learns that life needs balance. Heyborne is excitable and funny as he describes Potato's love of everything digital. His narration turns thoughtful as Potato remembers what it's like to enjoy things that don't require power and a plug-in. His voice captures the wonder of the outdoors and the enjoyment that Potato finds connecting with others in a non-digital world. S.B.T. 2022 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
From the Publisher
Looking for a spud-tacular read? Starch here. — Kirkus Reviews
From the writer and illustrator of The Bad Seed (2017), The Good Egg (2019), and The Cool Bean (2019), this picture book certainly has a point to make, but it does so with disarming wit and abundant charm. — Booklist
[T]his tale is timely and helps make the point that a balance of technology and old-school fun might be the way to go. A goofy story about the dangers of too much of one thing, and a lighthearted lesson for all. — School Library Journal
Text and illustrations are packed with humor. — Horn Book Magazine
A stylish and witty picture book. — Sunday Times (London)
Horn Book Magazine
Text and illustrations are packed with humor.
Sunday Times (London)
A stylish and witty picture book.
Booklist
From the writer and illustrator of The Bad Seed (2017), The Good Egg (2019), and The Cool Bean (2019), this picture book certainly has a point to make, but it does so with disarming wit and abundant charm.
Booklist
From the writer and illustrator of The Bad Seed (2017), The Good Egg (2019), and The Cool Bean (2019), this picture book certainly has a point to make, but it does so with disarming wit and abundant charm.
School Library Journal
12/01/2020
K-Gr 3—The term couch potato was coined in 1979 to describe kids who spent more time on the couch than outside playing. John's book toys with that concept in this exaggerated story of an anthropomorphic potato who pridefully shows the reader every device it owns. Each of them is designed to make sure Couch Potato never gets off the couch. When one last device is delivered and is plugged in, the lights go out. Couch Potato opens the curtains and notices what they haven't seen in ages: the outdoors! With nothing else to do, Couch Potato ventures outside and finds there is plenty to do. The COVID-19 pandemic has kept children in isolation indoors and developing couch potato tendencies through no fault of their own; this tale is timely and helps make the point that a balance of technology and old-school fun might be the way to go. The cartoonish art serves the story well, reaching for every last pun and bit of wordplay. VERDICT A goofy story about the dangers of too much of one thing, and a lighthearted lesson for all.—Joan Kindig, James Madison Univ., Harrisonburg, VA
FEBRUARY 2022 - AudioFile
Narrator Kirby Heyborne captures the hilarity and wordplay of THE COUCH POTATO, which is part of the Food Group series. Couch Potato starts out bragging about all the joys of being lazy, having many devices and never-ending screen time, and having everything you need within reach at the tap of a button. But when a power outage causes Couch Potato to reexamine his idle ways, he learns that life needs balance. Heyborne is excitable and funny as he describes Potato's love of everything digital. His narration turns thoughtful as Potato remembers what it's like to enjoy things that don't require power and a plug-in. His voice captures the wonder of the outdoors and the enjoyment that Potato finds connecting with others in a non-digital world. S.B.T. 2022 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2020-10-13
Can a couch potato peel themself off their beloved, comfortable couch?
John and Oswald’s titular spud certainly finds it very hard to do so. Why should they leave their “comfy, cozy couch” when everything that’s needed is within reach? Their doodads and gadgets to amuse and entertain, their couch’s extendable gloved hands to grab food from the kitchen, and screens upon screens to watch their favorite TV shows (highlights: MadYam, Fries), play their favorite video games, and livestream their friends. Where’s the need to leave the living room? Then…“PEW-WWWWWWW”! The electricity goes out one day. Left without screens and gizmos, the couch potato decides to take dog Tater “for a walk…outside,” where the trees and birds and skies seem rich, “like a high-resolution 156-inch curved screen, but even more realistic.” The outdoor experience proves cathartic and freeing, away from those cords that bind, liberating enough to commit this couch potato to spending more time off the couch. Similar to The Bad Seed (2017), The Good Egg (2019), and The Cool Bean (2019) in small-scale scope and moral learning, this latest guidebook to life retains John’s attention to textual goodness, balancing good-humored laughs with a sincere conversational tone that immediately pulls readers in. Naturally, Oswald’s succinct artwork—loaded with genial spuds, metatextual nods, and cool aloofness—continues this loose series’ winsome spirit. No counterarguments here, couch potatoes. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 65.9% of actual size.)
Looking for a spud-tacular read? Starch here. (Picture book. 4-8)
