George Crum and the Saratoga Chip

by Gaylia Taylor, Frank Morrison (Illustrator)

Overview

An account of the life and career of George Crum, a biracial chef who is credited with the invention of the potato chip at a Saratoga Springs, New York, restaurant in 1853. Based on historical records.

Growing up in the 1830s in Saratoga Springs, New York, isn't easy for George Crum. Picked on at school because of the color of his skin, George escapes into his favorite pastimes - hunting and fishing.

Soon George learns to cook too, and as a young man he lands a job as chef at the fancy Moon's Lake House. George loves his work, except for the fussy customers, who are always complaining! One hot day George's patience boils over, and he cooks up a potato dish so unique it changes his life forever.

Readers will delight in this spirited story of the invention of the potato chip - one of America's favorite snack foods. George Crum and the Saratoga Chip is a testament to human ingenuity, and a tasty slice of culinary history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781600606564
Publisher:	Lee & Low Books
Publication date:	04/01/2006
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	238,798
Product dimensions:	7.48(w) x 9.12(h) x 0.16(d)
Lexile:	AD910L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 10 Years

About the Author

Gaylia Taylor was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She is a retired Reading Recovery® teacher who is pursuing a full-time career writing children’s books. She is the author of Bebop Books’ Family Picnic, The Dashiki, and First Day at School. Lee & Low's George Crum and the Saratoga Chip was her first picture book. When she isn’t writing, Gaylia loves to travel. Taylor lives in Norfolk, Virginia, with her husband.

Frank Morrison has illustrated numerous award-winning books, including the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor winner Little Melba and Her Big Trombone, published by Lee & Low Books. Before becoming an illustrator, Morrison was a graffiti artist and b-boy. Morrison lives with his family in Georgia. You can learn more about him at morrisongraphics.com.

Editorial Reviews

"[I]ts appealing format will assure its popularity as a read-aloud for the primary grades." — School Library Journal

"An excellent choice for multicultural and invention units, this zesty biography adds spice to library collections." — Booklist

"Spinning lively invented details around skimpy historical records, Taylor profiles the 19th century chef credited with inventing the potato chip... Morrison's... sinuous figures slide through them with exaggerated elegance, adding theatrical energy as delicious as the snack food they celebrate. The author leaves Crum presiding over a restaurant (also integrated) of his own, closes with a note separating fact from fiction and also lists her sources." — Kirkus Reviews

Best Children's Books of the Year - Bank Street College of Education
Diamond Award Shortlist - Arkansas State Library
Texas Bluebonnet Award Shortlist - Texas Library Association (TLA)

From the Publisher

Gr 1-5-This lively story of the inventor of the potato chip begins with Crum's 1830s childhood in the Adirondacks, where his "feisty streak" gave him resilience in the face of prejudice against his Native American/African-American heritage. He combined a passion for cooking with a perfectionist bent and was hired as a chef at Moon's Lake House in Saratoga Springs, where he created popular wild game and fish dishes. His encounters with fussy and demanding patrons led to the innovative idea of thinly sliced, deep-fried potatoes as the ultimate French fry, and his fame spread rapidly. He eventually opened his own restaurant, Crum's Place, where everyone was treated equally, regardless of race or wealth. Taylor notes that the story is based on the "more substantiated existing facts" about a man whose life is largely undocumented. She writes clearly and compassionately, and treats topics of culinary history and race relations in an inviting manner. Crum is multidimensional in depiction, and readers can practically taste his crisp, freshly prepared chips. Morrison's richly colored acrylic illustrations have a comical look; the elongated figures shown from unusual angles create stylized exaggeration and burst with life. This book contains sufficient detail to interest older students, and its appealing format will assure its popularity as a read-aloud for the primary grades.-Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KS Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Spinning lively invented details around skimpy historical records, Taylor profiles the 19th-century chef credited with inventing the potato chip. Crum, thought to be of mixed Native-American and African-American ancestry, was a lover of the outdoors, who turned cooking skills learned from a French hunter into a kitchen job at an upscale resort in New York state. As the story goes, he fried up the first batch of chips in a fit of pique after a diner complained that his French fries were cut too thickly. Morrison's schoolroom, kitchen and restaurant scenes seem a little more integrated than would have been likely in the 1850s, but his sinuous figures slide through them with exaggerated elegance, adding a theatrical energy as delicious as the snack food they celebrate. The author leaves Crum presiding over a restaurant (also integrated) of his own, closes with a note separating fact from fiction and also lists her sources. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews