One Potato Review

Perhaps the richest and most emotionally complicated of Lionni’s simple fables, and certainly the only one to require the services of a magical rainbow-colored lizard. But these are tough times: crumbs are scarce, and the path is otherwise littered with crashing brooms and flying (cups and) saucers. Who wouldn’t prefer to live like Alexander’s wind-up doppelganger, cuddled in a child’s embrace? Well, some of us probably who are still shaking off the trauma of The Velveteen Rabbit. Fortunately the wish comes here with a caveat that forces Alexander to cool his heels, and fortunately that stupid child has a birthday before “the moon is round,” and fortunately Alexander does not linger to befriend any action figures before they also become obsolete, but chooses his second chance wisely. A knotty middle, then a bubbly final word.