Potato: A Tale from the Great Depression

by Kate Lied

During the "Great Depression," a family seeking work finds employment for two weeks digging potatoes in Idaho

Genres: Historical Fiction, Picture Books, Family, Childrens, Historical, Food, 2nd Grade

32 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1997

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story about a family trying to survive in hard times. When we walk into a store today I think we forget how hard people had to work in the past just to provide food for their families. This book really does a great job of connecting work and food in a way that most of us never have experienced before. Great lesson for small children.

[Jennesy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Potato is a story set back during the great depression. It is about a family that struggles to find a job; so, they travel to Idaho to pick potatoes for a couple of weeks and then they returned back home. Of course, it had a happy ending, which I personally didn't like becuase it isn't always a happy ending, especially during the great depression.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to my 9 year old as part of our study on American history during this time period. Although this is a very simple book, it does do a good job of describing what life was like during the depression. I thought the ending was cute. My 9 year old did not find this to be too young for him at all and thoroughly enjoyed the pictures and the story. I think this gave him a better understanding of how hard life was during the depression.

[Amber Goebel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is the historical fiction story of a family who lived during the Great Depression. A little girl tells the story of her grandmother who was a little girl during the Great Depression. Her family lost their home and had to farm potatoes for two weeks. They were given leftover potatoes and used them to trade with others for goods until they were able to get back on their feet. The book has a happy ending when the father finds a job and the family relocates to a city. It is an optimistic telling of the hardships of this time in our history that would be perfect for introducing the topic to 1st-3rd graders.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to the Great Depression for young children.

[Roxanne Watlington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historical fiction book Potato: A Tale from the Great Depression written by Kate Lied is about a true story of a family during the Great Depression. The story is told through a girl named Kate who tells the story her aunt Dorothy told her about. The family lives in Iowa but once the Great Depression happened they had to move all across the the country to find jobs to support their family. The family is very close knit strong family because they always stick together and staying positive, even though they are not in the greatest situation. The Great Depression caused their family to loose their jobs so they move to Idaho to work in a potato field. The family farmed potatoes everyday and were able to keep many potatoes. They eventually moved back home since they made a lot of money and to sell the potatoes for more money. The family is now back on their feet and they move to Washington D.C. and then lastly Hawaii were they are finally finically stable.
I really enjoyed the book and how easily it flowed. I loved how it was a true story and the author actually is writing about her personal story her aunt Dorothy told her about. The book is very family oriented and great for young children to learn about the Great Depression. It was a very easy read that made me want to keep turning the pages. I thought it was so interesting that the story began as someone stating they were about to tell a story about her grandparents during this historical time period. The ending was very cute how she stated this story is probably the reason why she loves potatoes. I highly recommend readers to read the end papers since the reader would have no idea the story was actually true and the author is actually telling her own story. Without reading it first the readers would be very confused. The pictures are very colorful and the characters are always smiling and happy which is awesome for young readers to see no matter how hard life can be sometimes, you should always remain positive.

[Zarina Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This historical fiction children's book is very interesting, and is even more interesting if you read the end papers. The opening page explains who the book is dedicated for and who it is written for. Kate Lied's aunt Dorothy told Kate about what her parents (Kate's grandparents) went through during the Great Depression and how she went with them through it all. The story is told from third person perspective, but is a true story. It explains how Clarence and Agnes had to move to a different state to find jobs, harvesting potatoes. The farmer would let them take the extra potatoes and they then traded those for other necessities. After they got back on their feet and the father found a job, they had two more children and moved to Hawaii.

The illustrations in this book are very simple and follow the text directly. In this book, you can clearly tell just how much family meant to them and how they made do with what they had. This story would be very good to read to children to make them appreciate what they have and realize that although they may not be in the same situation as the characters in the book, they do need to appreciate what they have. Nowadays children are very unappreciative of what they have and it's important that parents show them that some people do have it harder than them.

[Hyesu Kang · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about great depression period. The main character’s family place in difficult situation because of great depression. Dorothy's father loses one job after another, and they lose their house during desperation, they travel to Idaho to pick potatoes. They could pick potato up a lot, so they put potato in the car every place. After that they traded potato with other stuff. Since they traded a lot of goods, they could find their home again and others. Moreover, Dorothy's father found new job. Thus, this book has happy ending
This book is historical children’s book, so children can know history about great depression a little bit. Usually, history book is heavy topic for children ,but this book solved historical topic easily. Thus, I believe children can read this book as easy. Moreover, This book illustration is similar with cartoon, and illustration makes better understanding because illustration and text is exactly matched. Thoes are reasons I believe this book is helpful for children.

[Katie Petrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This historical fiction book follows a family that is struggling during the Great Depression. Due to finical hardships and changing times a family is found to have to move to keep themselves afloat. This children's book tells an unique story that reflects the times of the Great Depression.

In this book the images are simple and follow a similar color scheme. The colors or brown, orange and grey are what take up most of the image within the book. This conveys a serious mood that follows the story, in which it helps to enhance the gravity of the families situation. The text is simple and incorporates historical events within it that helps to properly portray the time it is set in. The characters depiction of clothing and style, helps the reflect the time period to the reader. This book is a light take on how the Great Depression affected people. It a good introduction into the topic however, it sugar coats the harsh reality that many did have to face.

[Kendall Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

The picture book, "Potato: A Tale from the Great Depression" is about a family that is living in a time during the Great Depression, while trying to find jobs. They travel to many different states in order to find a place for the whole family and for a job. Through out the book even though they are trying to survive everything that is going on with the Great Depression, the whole family is staying so positive through it all and is always sticking together.

This book is filled with a lot of dull colored pictures, which makes sense because the time period that it takes place in is the Great Depression. Even though the colors are dull the characters are always smiling in the pictures and looking happy. This could have been a heavy book but the author made it very light and pretty easy for elementary schoolers to read and it would always teach them about some history.

[Mansour · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author and illustrator (Lisa Campbell Ernst) do a good job of conveying the desperation and daunting tasks facing America's families during the Depression. Hunger and want were plentiful, money and jobs were not. Inflation was rampant, and so was despair. But rather than give up, Dorothy's family took action, traveling to Idaho to pick potatoes. Now, this might not sound like a smart thing to do; but at that time, Idaho had plenty of potatoes. The family worked very hard, day and night, and picked enough potatoes to fill the car for the trip home, where they traded those potatoes for other kinds of food and even a pig. This illustrates a basic economics concept: barter. No money changed hands; rather, potatoes were traded for other kinds of food.

[Stephanie Littig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book. The main characters live in Iowa during the Great Depression. Clarence loses his job, a couple of jobs, and decides to move to Idaho to find work in the potato field. They had no where to live, so they lived in tents for weeks. They picked potatoes all day and the farm owner allowed them to go into the field at night to pick the remaining potatoes for themselves. They only worked for two weeks but picked potatoes every night to take home to Iowa when the work was done. They then traded these potatoes for other things like groceries. I thought it was a cute book and one I would like in my classroom.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A true story, handed down through the generations. A very touching story of real life during the Great Depression.

The illustrations are very clear & to the plot of the story helping you understand the plot of the story even more. Seeing the illustrators point of view through the faces of the Great Depression are unexplainable! This book brought deep emotion to me as I have heard stories of this time in our land...but have not experienced it myself.

This would be a great book to have on hand in the classroom when discussing the Great Depression with your class!

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awards the book has received : n/a
Appropriate grade level:1-3
Original summary: Clarence and Agnes, who were young parents when the Depression first hit. When Clarence lost his job, the family lost their house in Iowa. Clarence and Agnes borrowed a car and drove to Idaho to dig potatoes. By day they worked for the farmer; by night, with his permission, they dug potatoes from the picked-over fields for themselves.
Original review: This book has great detail for children trying to understand the great depression.
1-2 possible in-class uses: Can be used to teach GD or family history.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Potato: A Tale from the Great Depression is a story about Dorothy and her parents who lived during The Great Depression. It is the story of perserverence and hard work even in the toughest of times. An short, concise introduction about this time period in our country's history for all children to hear.


Used for "It's Green and Leafy: Not Trees...Vegetables!" storytime-April, 2010.

[Ikuya Furutani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very simple and has a heartwarming story. We can know about the great depression from this book with easy sentences and good pictures.

This is a story about the Great Depression and its effects on a family and set in the days of the great depression in America. I think this book could be a great book for learning for kids or English learners to know one of American history. This historical fiction has good effect on many people.

[Stephanie Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for teaching the preschool/kindergarten age about both the hardships and the ingenuity that took place during the great depression. Simple, fast story; the cartoony pictures make it fun and relatable for little ones.

[B. Bollinger · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not too sure where to start really. This is a historical fiction book for kids in Kindergarten to 2nd grade. I would suggest teaching them a little background information about the great depression first before reading this book though. The class may be really confused about a few aspects of the story, so they may need some dates and time frame around the setting of it. Since it is a historical fiction book, it could be integrated easily into a lesson about the great depression, and it could keep the interest of younger students and this historical time frame.
The story itself is cute, I wouldn't say that it touches too much on history. It just mentions about people losing jobs and not having places to live and not finding work. It doesn't really touch on too much else. It says it all through the eyes of a child, which is somewhat endearing to the reader. It brings no cultural aspects or diversity to the book either.
It is not really a WOW book for me. In fact, I would thing for a National Geographic book, it could be better and much more inclusive. The illustrations are pretty bad as well.

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

POTATO A Tale From the Great Depression is a historical fiction book, intended for grades Pre-K through 2nd grade. Although those are the intended age groups I don’t think this book would be appealing to any young reader.

This story is about a family living during the great depression. They were having a hard time so they found work picking potatoes after working really hard they use the money they had buy a few important things. Towards the end of the book the father finally found a job and things started to look a little better for the family.

Although this story is a great lesson of hard work as well as learning what things were like during the depression, it needs to be more capturing for its intended audience. This is why I rated this story at only two stars.

[RLL22017Necole Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a book about a little girl who is retelling the story of her grandmother as a little girl during the great depression. In the book her father loses his job at the bank and they lose their home. They have no money so they go to dig potato's. After they have enough potatoes, they go back to their home state to sell and trade them for things that they need in order to live. The dad gets another job and they end up moving to Hawaii.

I would use this book in my classroom as a history lesson and to show teach students how they can find solutions to problems they may seem challenging. This would definitely be used for k-2

[Luvy Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is about a young family who move during the Great Depression. Clarence and his wife, Agnes, move their young family out of Iowa to a farm in Idaho. In Idaho the main job was picking potatoes. This is the story of this family passed down for one generation to another. This story is a wonderful tale of how to overcome really hard situations. The pictures are great and help tell the story.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quiet little story about what one family did to survive the Great Depression. Although the book is looking back from a much more prosperous future, sadly, many families are still facing the crises illustrated in this book--foreclosure, job loss, and food insecurity. Perhaps similar stories will someday be told about our era.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story of a young family who after losing their, job, and their home move from Iowa to Idaho to work in the field picking potatoes, and were allowed to glean all the potatoes they could carry after the harvest was over. They picked enough to eat, sell, and barter with for other goods, and needed supplies on their return to Iowa.

[Josie Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book because it is really meant for kids to read. It goes into talking about a family's life during the great depression. But I like this book because it educates young children what happened during the great depression but without going into much detail. Also I really enjoyed the pictures that were used in the book for young kids to look at.

[Jasmine Magee]

This is a historical fiction story about a family that is struggling during the Great Depression. The family goes to Idaho for two weeks to dig for potatoes. This can be used to have students research a similar, important time in history and write their own narrative stories about it.

[Gabrielle Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, this is a decent children's books that can help show kids some of struggles that families faced during the great depression. I do think it would have been nice if they went a little more depth into the history of the great depression and each of the characters individual roles.

[Domenica]

The story is a sad and engaging book that shows how life was for families during the great depression time and what they went through. The main character Dorothy, family lives in Iowa during the 1930s. During this time Dorothy's father loses his jobs which seem like one job after another. This family soon then loses a roof over their head leaving them in desperation. Dorthy's family decided to stay strong and traveled to Idaho where they picked potatoes. They got to trade the potatoes they picked with other foods from other people facing the same troubles as them. How will Dorthy and her family survive this devastating time?

This book really gives children, and adults a look into what life was like during the great depression and how people overcame this part in their lives. The author and illustrator does a great job of conveying the desperation along with tasks America's families had gone throughout during the Depression. Potato a tale from the Great Depression is definetly a book aimed toward older children that can fully understand what went on during this time.

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for young kids about the depression. A great place to start understanding.

[Talea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a delightful story about one family during the Great Depression and using what they were given to get through the hard times using potatoes.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story!!