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Hard work pays off.
Your parents have said that; your teachers, too. Stop messin’,
start paying attention, knuckle down, do your work, and see
what happens. Hard work pays off, and in the new book
No Small Potatoes by Tonya Bolden, illustrated by Don
Tate, hard work grows an empire.
Forty cents a day.
That’s how much Junius G Groves made at his first paid job.
Before that, he worked for no pay because he was born
a slave in Kentucky but as soon as “freedom came,” he headed
west. He was about 20 years old then, and strong: some say
he walked the whole way to Kansas, over 500 miles! When he
got to the Great Kew Valley, he landed a job for 40 cents a
day.
Junius G. worked hard and soon, he was making 75 cents a
day. Then he was appointed foreman and started making a
buck-twenty-five. He saved some of his money and he used the
rest to rent farmland, where he and his wife, Mathilda,
planted potatoes and chopped wood for sale, so that they
could save even more money.
Junius G., you see, had a big dream.
A plot of land near Edwardsville, Kansas, was for sale and
Junius wanted it. Problem was, those 80 acres cost more than
all the money the Groveses had. That bothered Junius G. but
what could he do, except to go into debt? He moved to the
land, promising that he would pay the loan off in one year –
and he got to work.
First, there was a house to build. There was a forest to
clear, so he could plant more potatoes. The Groveses had
children to raise by then and the kids pitched in. In a
years’ time, they paid every penny they owed and you know
what they did then…
By 1902, Junius G. was known as “Potato King of the World.”
He sent potatoes north to Canada and south to Mexico. He
grew so many potatoes that the railroad built a “hub” to
him. He eventually “grew jobs,” 10 children, a community,
and a church.
This sounds like a wonderful little life-lesson fable,
doesn’t it? A nice tale to encourage industriousness,
right? Except that No Small Potatoes is a true
story.
It’s a delightful one, at that: author Tonya Bolden shares
this hidden tale in a most unique way: her story weaves
between the words of Junius G. Groves himself, which shows
his strength and ways of thinking. That determination is
told as though it’s no big deal, but kids will know better;
it truly helps that the story, on Bolden’s side, is made
completely relatable through words and language that a child
might use, while artwork by Don Tate makes it feel
comfortable.
Will you want fries with that? Maybe, because this book
will also speak to young foodies who could eat spuds at
every meal, as well as four-to-eight-year-olds who enjoy
hidden tales. If that’s your child, finding No Small
Potatoes will really pay off.
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