The Couch Potato

It’s not clear what an actual potato is doing on the Russet family’s living room sofa, but that’s all it takes to send Mr. Russet, who is responsible for the housekeeping, over the edge. Fed up with tidying, he resolves that “he was not going to pick up that potato, and he was not going to pick up anything else either!” Unfortunately, the rest of the family does not rise to the occasion: Violet dresses the potato in a tiny pink tutu and a too-big baseball cap, and Mrs. Russet eventually cedes “a whole cushion” to it, squishing together with the kids at the sofa’s other end. With Mr. Russet self-sequestered in “potato-free rooms,” domestic hygiene soon teeters at the tipping point. Will no one rid the household of this troublesome tuber? The colored pencil, gouache, and watercolor images have a naïf look of on-the-spot sketches, and they’re a fine match for the deadpan narration. Sparrow (Sleep, Sheep!) and debuting Huang cleverly and inventively reaffirm a universal family truth: never underestimate how a little annoyance can quickly escalate into a laughably big deal. Ages 3–7. [em]Illustrator’s agent: Sean McCarthy, Sean McCarthy Literary Agency. (Sept.) [/em]