Get Talking: The Chocolate Touch

Tell about a time you ate too much candy. How did you feel after you hade done it?

John hides his chocolate from his parents. Tell about a time that you hid something from your parents. How did that make you feel?

What would you do if one morning you woke up and everything that touched your lips tasted like your favorite food?

Why would it be bad to have the "chocolate touch"?

Think back to the choices the shopkeeper gave John. What difficult choices have you had to make in your life?

"The Chocolate Touch" was written almost fifty years ago.  Can you see any differences in what life was like then and what it is like now?

Book Blurb: The Chocolate Touch

John Midas is a very greedy young boy who only loves to eat candy, especially chocolate. His parents keep trying to get him to eat healthy meals, but all he wants to eat is chocolate, to the point where he must take nightly doses of a vitamin tonic to keep nourished. John's doctor, Dr. Cranium, orders that John may not eat any more chocolate, which is enforced by his parents, much to John's chagrin. John has to find a way to continue eating chocolate without being noticed.

One day, John happens across an unusual coin lying on the sidewalk, about the size of a quarter. One face depicts a fat boy, and the other is inscribed with his initials, "J.M." Shortly thereafter, he encounters a candy store he has never seen before, which is further mysterious considering the owner knows John's name immediately and claims that the strange coin is the only kind of money he accepts. John uses the coin to purchase a large box of chocolates. That night, in bed, John opens the box to dejectedly discover that it contains only one small chocolate ball, with an exquisite flavor. The next morning, John discovers that anything that touches his mouth transforms into chocolate.

          Taken from www.wikipedia.com



About the Author

Patrick Skene Catling

Patrick Skene Catling is a British children's book author and book reviewer best known for writing The Chocolate Touch in 1952.

Catling was born and schooled in London and was educated there and at Oberlin College in the United States. Catling served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a navigator and as a journalist at The Baltimore Sun and The Manchester Guardian.

He has traveled extensively. His present home is in the Republic of Ireland. He continues writing books, and writes reviews for The Spectator, The Telegraph, and other publications.

His first publication of The Chocolate Touch in 1952 received enthusiastic responses from several reviewers. The New York Herald Tribune remarked, "it has already proved a hilarious success with children," and The Saturday Review said, "it is told with an engaging humor that boys and girls will instantly discover and approve." Catling has since written dozens of books, and has developed the popular The Chocolate Touch character John Midas into the children's book series: John Midas in the Dreamtime (1986), John Midas and the Vampires (1994), John Midas and the Radio Touch (1994), and John Midas and the Rock Star (1995). Of John Midas in the Dreamtime, School Library Journal wrote, "...children who have been dragged around tourist sights will relate to John's boredom".

           Taken from www.goodreads.com

Meeting Notes: Frindle

Well, I hope you liked Frindle as much as I did.  I love the idea of making up your own words, so for the ice breaker activity, that's what we did.  I gave everyone a list of ten definitions and let everyone there make up their own words then try to guess what the original word was.  It was a bit harder than you might think, but still a lot of fun. 

Frindle offered an abundance of topics to talk about.  We started with favorite characters.  Mine was Nick because of how he developed through the book.  He started out being a bit of a trouble maker, but learned he needed to be responsible for his ideas.  He realized his ideas had power.  Amber liked Mrs. Granger and how she made herself the villain of the story so Nick's idea could grow.

We also discussed what we would do if we suddenly discovered we had a bunch of money like Nick did when he turned 21.  Rebekah said she would share her money.

There was a visitor at our meeting today.  Lisa Larson from the Spectrum was there.  She's writing an article on some of the programs we have at the library and is including the Mother-Daughter book club in it.  It won't be in the paper until about the 22, so watch for it!

To end the meeting we picked our book for next month.  The two choices were:

The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling.  John Midas loves chocolate.  He loves it so much that he'll eat it any hour of any day.  He doesn't care if he ruins he appetite.  He thinks chocolate is better than any other food!  But one day, after wandering into a candy store and buying a piece of their best chocolate, John finds out that there might just be such a thing as too much chocolate...   from the back of the book

Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost by Cornelia Funke.  Watch out for ghost goo. Tom's stuck at home with his horrible sister, Lola. But there's something stickier hiding out in his cellar - a slime-dripping ghost called Hugo. But harmless Hugo is in the goo too, because he's being haunted - by a much bigger, badder, Incredibly Revolting Ghost. Lucky for Tom that his Granny's best friend just happens to be a world-famous ghosthunter.    
From http://www.amazon.com/

And the winner is.....The Chocolate Touch  by Patrick Skene Catling.  I am very excited to read this book as a group.  It's a great one!  The next meeting will be October 14, 2011 at 3:00 pm.  See you there!

Gloria