The Happy Potato (and Why I Bought It for Myself)
Found a super cute kids’ book in Amsterdam—turns out it’s also a masterclass in storytelling.
Found this in Amsterdam too—“The Happy Potato,” a children’s picture book. The title and cover illustration are super cute, but what’s really amazing is how it works as a storytelling reference!
If you just look at one page, it’s like, “Oh, what a cute potato drawing.” But as you turn the pages, the perspective shifts—starting from the potato’s point of view, then moving forward or upward, and that’s where the storytelling progress becomes really fun.
For example, it begins with a potato plant, then the perspective goes underground to show the cool and happy potato in the soil. Then it shifts upward to the potato field aboveground. Then it zooms out to the village with the houses lined up in the fields. I really want to learn how to tell a story with such simple illustrations like this, so I ended up buying the book for myself!