The Chocolate Touch

Product Description In this zany twist on the legend of King Midas and his golden touch, a boy acquires a magical gift that turns everything his lips touch into chocolate! Kids will eat this up for summer reading or anytime! Can you ever have too much of your favorite food? John Midas is about to find out…. The Chocolate Touch has remained a favorite for millions of kids, teachers, and parents for several generations. It's an enjoyable story that pulls in even reluctant readers. From the Back Cover 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 his 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. . . . About the Author Born in London, Patrick Skene Catling was educated there and at Oberlin College in the United States. As a Royal Canadian Air Force navigator and as a journalist, he has traveled extensively. His present home is in the Republic of Ireland.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. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. The Chocolate Touch By Patrick Catling HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.Copyright ©2006 Patrick Catling All right reserved. ISBN: 0688161332 Chapter One 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. Generally speaking, however, he behaved very well. He should have behaved better. 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. Finally, there was Susan Buttercup, who was in his class. Susan had soft yellow curls, round pink cheeks, blue eyes, and one of the best collections of marbles in the neighborhood. John should have been completely wellbehaved. But he wasn't. 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. While other boys and girls spent their money on model airplanes, magazines, skipping ropes, and pet lizards, John studied the candy counters. All his money went on candy, and all his candy went to himself. He never shared it. John Midas was candy mad. At lunch one Saturday Mrs. Midas noticed a couple of little r