Customer Reviews

George Crum and the Saratoga Chip

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hip Hip Hooray! A fabulous biography that is not only multi-cultural, but will hold the interest of every child who reads it! Thanks go out to author Gaylia Taylor, who must have researched many months to find enough details to bring George Crum half Native American, half African American, back to life. Embarrassed and laughed at in school as a child because he couldn't count to one hundred, George decided to live his life by making his own choices, not those of society. There are strong messages about self esteem and perserverance in this story, yet they never beat the reader over the head.
Frank Morrison's illustrations are both interesting and fun.
This book is a must have for all Elementary School libraries. I loved it so much, I bought one for each school in our district!

Frank Morrison's illustrations are the best thing in this biography of the inventor of the potato chip, Mr. George Crum. I've seen Morrison's work in both "Sweet Music in Harlem" and "Jazzy Miz Mozetta," but I think this is his best work to date. Sure, he has those signature elongated limbs and faces, but his backgrounds also curve around, inviting you into the picture. His choice of colors is outstanding, rich greens and browns make you taste the Adirondack mountains, and his precious orchid tones suggest the high-minded, precious ambience of the exclusive restaurants where Crum eventually works. Morrison commands each scene, whether the action table side or in the kitchen, (where George whips up a batch of French fries--their return by yet another horrendous customer prompts an angry George to invent the dish we now call the potato chip), or in a fish-shaped lily pad floating on the river where George lays down his pole.

The story depicts mid-18th century America, and includes some interest-provoking material about George and his sister and supporter, Kate. An early scene that show George's frustration at school sets up George's later feisty personality, and his "revenge" on the fussy french fry complaint. However, it seems a little contrived, and the details about his entire life seem somewhat superfluous. Not to make too fine a point of it, but I also wondered at the cozy racial integration shown both at school and at the cafes. Perhaps this is useful for educational settings, but it's internally inconsistent with Crum's difficulty procuring a chef position, and is very probably contradictory to the times.

While some scene-setting is necessary, perhaps a better tact would have been conclude the story at its dramatic high point (the invention and fame of the potato chip), and include some of the early and later details in the excellent afterward by Ms. Taylor. Still, any story about a food as familiar as the potato chip will attract lots of interest, and Morrison's pictures make this a tasty read.

I enjoyed this story of George Crum, who in 1853 invented the potato chip while working as a chef at the prestigious Moon's Lake House in Saratoga Springs.

Crum was confident of his cooking skills but as a person of color, part African American and part Native American; he faced difficulty finding a position as a chef. Hired by Moon's Lake House, Crum's menu soon brought the rich and famous to the restaurant in droves.

He felt great frustration and chafed at the pettiness of wealthy restaurant patrons. After one customer complained about the thickness of some French fries, Crum, in retaliation, sliced the potatoes wafer thin and fried them at a very high heat. The rest is history.

This book works well for kids on many levels. It is a skillfully told story from history. Morrison's illustrations are bright and engaging and evoke the time period. In the dining room of the restaurant, the patrons are white and the waitstaff is black.

Readers will applaud George Crum's independent spirit and his determination to follow his own path. This story of one of our favorite snack foods is a terrific read to share with students.

Many people already know that an African American, George Washington Carver, invented peanut butter. And now a few smart souls will know that our #1 snack food, the potato chip, was also a gift from a person of color, in this case part African American and Native American.

The book presents a fictive George Crum circa the mid-19th century drawn from scant historical details. Taylor nonetheless manages to weave together enough bits and pieces to create a fascinating character with a restless mind, short fuse and epicurean leanings.

Crum grew up free -- and something of a free spirit -- hunting and fishing near Saratoga Springs, New York, the summer playground for the super-wealthy drawn by its mineral springs.

After a French hunter taught him to cook his catches, Crum managed to persuade a toney eatery to overlook the color of his skin and hire him as chef. But he didn't suffer fools gladly, and Taylor skillfully sets us up for the inevitable showdown.

Morrison's elongated, elegant rendering of Crum ambles through bright acrylics, with the hoity-toity patrons rendered mockingly as they huff and preen, a reverse of 19th-century genre paintings that often skewered the working class. Crum's moment of inspiration was basically his hissy fit prompted by a particularly prissy customer.

The dish is instantly famous, earning Crum enough acclaim and money to open his own, integrated restaurant. An end note clarifies what liberties the creators took filling in blanks, and there's a bibliography opposite the title page.

More than an interesting bit of trivia, the story fleshes out someone who'd otherwise be lost to history; an outdoorsy, cunning man in the era of slavery who owned himself, in the best sense possible.

George Crum and the Saratoga Chip is a informative and interesting book that tells of the invention of a favorite food of the U.S. It is a wonderful addition to any library seeking to add multicultural depth to the collection. It has great illustrations.

I purchased this book for my 7 year old grandson who is biracial. He is having problems with classmates calling him names and I thought this book would show him that race has nothing to do with accomplishments. The book was a little to old for him. The pictures were very dark and not at all bright. He really didn't enjoy the book at all. I don't recommend this book for young children.