Spuds by Karen Hesse

Spuds, by Karen Hesse, is a story about three children, Maybelle, Eddie, and jack, who are very poor and hungry so they steal potatoes, also known as spuds, from their neighbor’s field.  However, the children end up collecting more rock than they do actual potatoes and their mother is upset with them for stealing.  There is a definite plot to this story but I felt like the climax and ending was little forced, almost like it happened too quickly.  There isn’t a lot of character development through the words but the reader does get a lot of information about them from the illustrations.  The pictures appear to be done in water colors and the pale colors created by this medium add to the dreary tone of the story.  I like this story, because despite the children’s desperate state, the story has somewhat of a happy ending.  This story has a lot to teach young children about poverty and the importance of being honest.
            I’m a little hesitant to say I will use this book in my classroom because it didn’t “wow” me.  If I were to use it, I would use it when discussing the tough issue of poverty.  I would address poverty by first asking children what they already know about it and writing this down somewhere.  I would then read a book such as Spuds , and potentially some other books as well, and ask children if they learned anything new.  I would open the book to different parts and ask the class to think about how the children were probably feeling at this part in the story.  I think this exercise teaches compassion and empathy, as well as the skill of identifying emotions in oneself and others.   I would want to end this discussion by talking about the strengths the family in the story has.  For instance, the children in Spuds care about each other very much and have a mother who wants them to know the difference between right and wrong.  I think it’s important for children to realize that even if things seem bad or scary, there is usually a bright light, in the form of love or a lesson to be learned.  On a lighter note, this book could be used to talk about farming, with children speculating as to where this story takes place based on what is growing in the fields.  I probably wouldn’t use it for this, other than talking about what “Spuds” are, but it is always an option.

Year Published: 2008        Illustrator: Wendy Watson