Chocolate Touch Pdf Free
Trinidad Baltzell
The Chocolate Touch is a children's book by Patrick Skene Catling, first published in the US in 1957. John Midas is delighted when, through a magical gift, everything his lips touch turns into chocolate. The story is patterned after the myth of King Midas, whose magic turned everything he touched into gold. The original illustrations were by Mildred Coughlin McNutt, but another edition in the same year, a "newly illustrated" edition, had illustrations by Margot Apple and more pages.[1]
John Midas is a young boy with an intense, but obsessive love of confectionery, especially chocolate. Dr. Cranium, the Midas' family doctor warns John that his health is poor, and until further notice, he is to eat only those foods that are conducive to a healthy body, much to the boy's disgruntlement. The doctor's orders are backed by John's folks, who dispose of their son's entire candy stash and have control over his spending money. Angered at having his life micromanaged, John goes for a walk to clear his head.
Whilst on his excursion he sees a coin on the ground. John rejoices over his good fortune; having found a way to clandestinely acquire some chocolate. However, when he studies the coin he sees it is engraved with the image of a fat boy and the letters JM, and dismisses it as a unknown token. Even so, John remarks the coin is unique as JM stands for John Midas, and decides to hang on to it. Also on his walk he comes across a candy store he has never seen before. Even more odd is that the store is run by a man whom John has never met before, but is friendly and refers to John by name and extols his chocolate as the finest ever. The confectioner offers John a box of his chocolates in exchange for the strange coin. That night before going to bed, John decides to have one final chocolate feast, only to be dismayed to find the box contains nothing save for an ordinary chocolate ball. Although it is only a small piece of chocolate, it is the most chocolatey chocolate he has ever tasted.
The Chocolate Touch covers roughly the same narrative as the myth of King Midas, hence the name John Midas, but in changing the object of its protagonist's desire, modifies its target in significant ways. The myth of King Midas, who loved gold above all things, targets greed as its main theme, while The Chocolate Touch highlights another of the Seven Deadly Sins, gluttony. Both stories deal with self-centeredness versus compassion, though The Chocolate Touch does so in a manner accessible to children.
The Chocolate Touch is still in print, and is often used in grade school curricula throughout the United States.[2][3] It won the Massachusetts Children's Book Award[4] in 1989, the Utah Children's Choice Honors Award in 1983,[citation needed] and the Beehive Award[5] from the Children's Literature Association of Utah in 1983.
This humorous tale by Patrick Skene Catling, with illustrations by Margot Apple, is published by Morrow Junior Books, part of William Morrow and Company Inc., and is written for kids ages 8 to 12. The age range reflects readability and not necessarily content appropriateness.
Why does John blame the storekeeper for his chocolate troubles? When have you tried to place blame on other people for a problem you caused, and why? What does it mean to take responsibility for your actions?
The story is a bit of a misadventure where a very chocolate-obsessed boy finds himself magically enchanted (by his own fault and short-sightedness) with a chocolate touch that grows increasingly worse as the story goes on. I love the progression of the story and, as a writer, noticed it hit classic plot points in a really simple way.
Now if you know the story of King Midas, this is the part where our main character starts to develop the infamous touch that starts to turn his world upside down. At first he enjoys everything he touches turning to chocolate and devouring it (including fluoride flavored chocolate when he tries brushing his teeth) but then it starts causing more trouble for him later on in the chapters. Each detailing the trouble he gets in with his friends, at home, at school, and finally with his own family. As the final straw is when he tries to console his grieving mother and she turns into a chocolate statue kissing her on the cheek. Realizing all this happened the moment he found the coin and brought the chocolate boxes.
Of course, John runs home to find his mother and everything he touched turned back to normal and as everything was before he had his chocolate touch. We are not told what the reaction was of those who personal property John Midas may have previously ruined by turning them into chocolate. But I think we know that when John gets older and gets invited to a party that serves chocolate, I imagine he is going to have one heck of a confectionery PTSD.
In school, Henry Green, notices these strange brown spots on him and the teacher worried it might be something serious takes him to the nurses office thinking they are either measles, scarlet fever, or the chicken pox. As these spots increase the teacher and school nurse immediately take the boy to the hospital. Which makes one beg the question of did anyone think to call the parents and tell them where they were taking their kid?
Yeah, two robbers hold Mack and Henry Green hostage playing to take whatever is in the back of the truck to sell for money. Thinking its expensive furs when really its full of candy bars. Coincidence, I think not.
Both books as you will obviously notice, rely on the use of chocolate to convey their messages across to children to teach them about the values of selflessness and the downsize to overindulgence in anything that takes the place of real life people and activities. Mostly because chocolate is a widely popular type of treat that is introduced early on to most anyone as a child, and depending on circumstances health-wise, still carry on to adulthood, as they have a lot of versatile resources we have come to love about them. We use them in recipes, as a token of love to others, and as stress-relief.
Both main characters, the boys, really are nothing interesting. Kids can relate to them as being normal kids much like themselves who have a bit of a sweet tooth. But they would be perhaps interested in the situation they are put through, and how they come out of it. Chocolate Fever is more simplified as it is written for younger kids in mind, but is more subtle and realistic in how the child learns its lesson, while for older kids, The Chocolate Touch does come off as having the lesson a bit more contrived and bashes the reader on the head. But still, it gets the job done and the kid at the end of The Chocolate Touch does feel as if he has grown up a little and really had the lesson effect him. Where as subtle as it is with Chocolate Fever, and it does feel refreshing and enlightening to have Henry figure it out himself, you cant help but wonder if maybe the lesson for him will truly stick better to John Midas than it did with Henry Green.
The original appearance of The Chocolate Touch in 1952 stirred much reviewer enthusiasm. 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."
Margot Apple lives in Massachusetts. She has three horses: two Morgans (Devil, age twenty-five, and Tiggy, Devil's 1999 filly) and Annie, a quarter horse. In 2003 Tiggy began participating in her first horse shows in the Western Pleasure Division.
Margot Apple is the author-artist of Blanket and Brave Martha and the illustrator of Appaloosa Zebra: A Horse Lover's Alphabet, Runaway Radish, and the beloved "Sheep" books, including Sheep in a Jeep and Sheep Trick or Treat.
Most of the time John Midas was a very nice boy. Every now and then, 0 f course, he broke a rule, such as the rule against pretending to be a tiger when his sister, Mary, was supposed to be getting to sleep.
He lived in a comfortable house surrounded by a green lawn and widespreading shade trees that were suitable for climbing. His mother was gentle as well as practical. His father, when he didn't have to hurry to town, spent hours telling John interesting things about baseball, beetles, birds' nests, boats, brigands, and butterflies.
John went to school and liked it. His teacher, Miss Plimsole, was fairly easy to get along with, as long as he did careful work. He had received a new, shiny golden trumpet and music lessons as a going-to-school present. Mrs. Quaver, the music teacher, had soon agreed to let him play small parts, a few notes at a time, with the school orchestra.
He had one bad fault: he was a pig about candy. Boiled candy, cotton candy, licorice all-sorts, old-fashioned toffee, candied orange and lemon slices, crackerjack, jelly beans, fudge, black-currant lozenges for ticklish throats, nougat, marrons gldces, acid drops, peppermint sticks, lollipops, marshmallows, and, above all, chocolates-he devoured them all.
Mr. Midas leaned forward to look at them. He gravely shook his head and clicked his tongue. John tried to look too. But it is very difficult to see the end of your own nose without a mirror unless you happen to be an elephant with a long nose that you can bend double. When John tried to look at the end of his nose, first with one eye and then with the other, and then with both together, all that he could see was a pink blur. Besides, trying to look at something so close-made his eyes ache.
"That's just what I thought," Dr. Cranium said. "I can tell by looking at him that he eats much too much candy." The doctor shone a little electric light into John's right ear. Then he shone it into John's left ear. Then he shone it in John's nose. He told John to open wide and say ah. Then he shone the light into John's mouth. "Much too much candy! Gracious me-he seems to be full of candy!"
"I'm sorry," John said politely. "But I can kick harder if you want me to." He gave a sudden high kick, which knocked the hammer out of Dr. Cranium's hand. It landed on its rubber head and bounced across the room.
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