Big Bob and the Magic Valentine Day Potato is a book in Scholastic’s Hello Reader! Series. It is a level 3 book targeted for students in grades one and two. Among books in the extensive series are “Ballerina Dreams”, Big Bob and the Halloween Day Potatoes”, “A Girl Names Helen Keller”, “Monster Manners”,” Big Bob and the Winter Holiday Potato”, Big Bob and the Thanksgiving Potato,” and “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Bully”.

Preceding the title page is a letter addressed to family members by reading specialist. Francie Alexander. She points out the roles of sight words, phonic decoding, picture interpretation and text clues in the reading process. She shares a list of very comprehensive and useful activities for before, during, and after reading. I’ve seen such lists from so-called specialists that are gobbledygook. Alexander’s suggestions are sensible and pertinent.

Spudopsis

This book begins like all four books in this delightful series. Big Bob introduces himself and Big Gloria as the biggest kids in the grade. Mr. Salami, their beloved teacher, used to be a racecar driver, pilot and deep-sea diver. Mr. Salami speaks to the class about plans to celebrate the upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday in the usual ways. Big Gloria and Bob decide they want to do something different to make the holiday better. They want the Magic Valentine Potato to visit the class. This mystical figure visits good kids on Valentine’s Day bearing hearts and potato chips.
Mr. Salami listens and says,” We will see.”

Bob, Gloria, Tina Tiny, and Billy Thimble meet at Gloria’s house after school to make potato valentines. Using a cut potato and red poster paint, they make potato stamps. Gloria finds pink toilet paper. On each toilet paper square the children print a heart. Mom gives the kids a potato chips snack.

Mr. Willie the janitor lets the kids in the school building early so they can decorate their classroom with their potato valentines and rolls of potato-printed toilet paper. The decorations look terrific and the kids finish before Mr. Salami’s arrival. Mr. Salami is uncharacteristically late to the consternation of the students. Then their eyes are drawn to a large figure in the doorway. It’s a huge potato person wearing a red cape and red mask, bearing potato chips and hearts. He’s the Magic Valentine’s Potato. The children are thrilled by his visit. The Magic Valentine Potato tells the class to eat their potato chips and be good children. He says good bye and dances out of the room.

In a while Mr. Salami comes in late. He says he had car trouble. Everyone tells him about the Magic Valentine Potato. A smiling Mr. Salami listens with interest.

My Take

In the other Potato holiday books Big Bob tells us he’s in the second grade. No grade is mentioned in this book, and I think that’s a good thing. Leaving the age and grade of the students open to speculation opens up Big Bob and the Magic Valentine’s Day Potato to a wider audience, especially to third and fourth graders who may have no interest in reading about little second graders.

Some of the more difficult words in the book are: holiday, valentine, pilot, whisper, glitter, decorations, appropriate, decorated, janitor, hitch. The author’s use of repetition, context clues, and picture clues are very helpful.

I enjoyed reading all four books in the series and would recommend this for others. After the first couple books the characters attain a comfortable familiarity and one can anticipate their words, actions, and motives. Mr. Salami’s past adventurous occupations are mentioned at the beginning of each book. The dangerous pastimes are always different and somewhat hard to believe. Yet in an admiring student’s eyes, there’s no doubt that Mr. Salami piloted planes, dove deep below the ocean, raced cars, and climbed mountains. I often tell my students that I was in the Mr. Universe contest, but nobody ever seems to believe me.

Jill Pinkwater’s graphics are delightful, match the mood and tone of the story, and could almost relate this tale as stand alones. Her, subtle, relaxed style brings the characters to life and endows them with an enriching charm and likeability. One depiction of friendly looking Mr. Salami, his green suspenders and green tie speckled with little hearts and clashing with his bright yellow striped shirt, expresses more than several pages of text could. The pictures of Mr. Salami as the Magic Valentine’s Day Potato are a riot. His very visible rolled up pants and rolled up shirt sleeves as well as his large, clunky shoes make him easily identifiable. Yet his students choose to ignore these seemingly obvious clues, believe the unbelievable, and eagerly embrace the special magic and the wonder of the moment.





· Reading level: Ages 4-8
· Paperback: 32 pages
· Publisher: Scholastic (January 2000)
· Language: English
· ISBN: 0590632752
· Product Dimensions: 9.0 x 6.0 x 0.2 inches

Thank you, Ariane, for adding this book.



Recommended: Yes