The Chocolate Touch

John Midas is a self centered little boy who loves chocolate more than anything and doesn't do what he is told. John makes a bad choice at a magical candy shop and finds himself with a special gift/curse: everthing his mouth touches turns to chocolate. It is amazing how tiring and even dangerous

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this becomes and he soon realizes this is punishment for his previous selfish behavior. After he turns his own mother to chocolate with one kiss he learns his lesson and sets out to set things right. A typical 3rd grade book, mediocre writing and no surprises. I am told kids love it and the few i know who read it said they enjoyed it; but it seems a bit heavy handed and preachy to me. An award winner though and it made it onto NOVELISTS GREAT READ-ALOUDS, 3RD GRADE list, so i will keep an open mind and push it a little. (the jury is still out)

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I loved this book because whatever he drinks and eats turns into chocolate.It is AR and I would recomend this book.

This early novel is a fantasy because everything the boy touches turnes magically into chocolate. The main character finds himself miserable when his greed for chocolate becomes excessively apparent. Media: Ink

This is a great read aloud book for younger students. It's fun and entertaining. It teaches a lesson about greed.

John Midas was an ordinary boy with one bad fault: “he was a pig about sweets”. He loved sweets more than anything, and never shared them with anyone. Chocolate, of course, is the best sort of sweet there is. One day John finds a special coin, and goes to a special shop to buy a very special

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box of chocolates. However, after eating the contents, John realises that everything he puts into his mouth is turning into chocolate!

This is a fable about greed and moderation. John loves chocolate, but there’s only so much chocolate anyone can eat before needing a drink. And of course even the water in the school drinking fountain turns to chocolate in John’s mouth.

The author has done a clever job of describing the good and bad points about chocolate. At the beginning of the story the reader identifies with John in his longing for chocolate, but by the climax of the story the reader, still identifying with John, is longing for variety.

One of the features of John’s ailment is that whatever goes into his mouth keeps its own texture, taking on only the flavour and sweetness of chocolate. The author manages to describe all the foods John would ordinarily eat in the course of a day – “the bacon had been hot, crisp, and oily…and the marmalade sticky and lumpy” – which still taste like chocolate. It helps the reader to have a strikingly clear image of what John is going through.

As if the food isn’t bad enough, John’s real crisis points occur with the things he puts in his mouth which aren’t ordinarily intended to be eaten. This story is told mainly over the course of one day in John’s life, during which the reader realises what a wide range of things one might reasonably put in one’s mouth. Naturally these crises begin to affect others besides John himself, which is what finally seems to motivate him to do something about his problem. Apart from the basic ‘magic’ premise, this story is all-too-realistic: everybody reacts with exactly the sort of indignant disbelief or envy that might be expected from kids and parents faced with this sort of situation.

Of course this story is based on the ancient myth of King Midas and the Golden Touch (about a greedy king who claimed to love gold so much that everything he touched began to turn into gold).
The Chocolate Touch seemed more modern, more subtle, and more plausible: for the king, everything he touched turned to gold; whereas John is able to continue through everyday life for a bit longer, as it is only that which touches his mouth which is affected. In the end it is the same crisis (a kiss) which helps both King Midas and John Midas to truly repent, and acknowledge with the reader the moral of the story: you can have too much of a good thing!

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This book is about a boy who is vert greedy. But one day when ge bought a new chocolate he finds out that there is such thing as too much chocolate. He didn't know that the chocolate was actually magic. I recommend this book to people who eat chocolate.

John Midas is a pretty regular kid and he LOVES candy. His mother is especially distraught by his excesses. She even takes him to the doctor. Shortly after that John finds an unusual coin on the sidewalk. He decides to take a different route than he normally does and comes upon a candy shop he's

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never seen before. He goes inside and discovers that the coin will buy him a box of candy which he sneaks into his room. He opens it to find a solitary chocolate which is delicious! From that point on a change takes place in him which I'm sure you can guess. It's super short and pretty great. A lesson is learned!

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This is one of my favorite books from my childhood. I remember it was one of my first chapter books that made me feel good and was such a creative book, especially for a chapter book. I think for children, this is a fun story because it involves chocolate, but I think that the moral message that

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they learn is that being greedy can backfire and cause bad things to happen. At the end of the story, it teaches that if you follow directions and do the right thing, karma comes around and good things can happen.

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It all started when john found the funny old coin. The man at the candy store was more than glad to trade john a box of chocolates for it. And john loved chocoate more than anything else in the world. Or so he thought at first john was dissapointed because inside that big box was just one piece of

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chococlate. But after he ate it,everything tasted like chocolate! Thats when john discovered that his chocolate touch was more much more than he bargained for!

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The Chocolate Touch is about a boy named John Madias. He is obsessed with candy. He rarely eats anything other than candy. Until one day he was going to his friend's house when he found a weird coin. It had the initials J. M. on it with a chubby kid on the other side. He ran to the nearest candy

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store. The man said it was the only currency he accepted. So John bought a box of chocolate and ran home.
He hid the box under the bed and when it was time for him to go to sleep he opened the box and only saw one ball. He was kind of upset but he still ate it. The next morning he got up and brushed his teeth. The toothpaste tasted like chocolate, so he ate the whole tube. Then he went down stair to eat breakfast it tasted like chocolate too. Then John went to school and he had a test and he started chewing on his pencil and it turned to chocolate. So he ate lunch and it turned to chocolate. The next day he was going to bed and kissed his on the cheek and she turned to chocolate. So John ran back to the candy store where he tried to show his dad but it wasn't there so it was there but the only way she would turn back was if he didn't eat anymore candy. So he agreed and also figured out that the kid on the coin would of been him.

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A boy who adores candy acquires a magical gift that turns everything his lips touch into chocolate.

This book mirrors the Midas Touch. It is a more contemporary version in which John learns the hard way the importance of moderation. In fact, John’s last name, Midas, pays tribute to the story. After visiting a candy store, John gets a piece of chocolate that affects him in a strange way.

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Everything he touches turns to chocolate. At first this seems wonderful. Foods that he normally wouldn’t like get turned into his favorite treat. His enjoyment of this gift soon turns sour though because he realizes that there are no exceptions and that even an innocent kiss on the cheek turns his mom to chocolate. John has to find a way to correct his situation before his loses his mom. Children learn lessons about selfishness and greed. They can learn about what truly matters in life, family. Children 3rd – 4th grade will enjoy the book and its themes.

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John Midas loves chocolate more than anything. When he finds a special coin on the sidewalk one Sunday, he buys a box of chocolate from a new candy store. That one box of chocolate changes his life...and everything he puts into his mouth into chocolate!

This story has great characters and compares

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well to the story of King Midas (it would make a good compare contrast/fractured fairytale). I loved this story as a child and rereading it as an adult was just as enjoyable!

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Reminiscent of those cautionary but humorous Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle tales, but this one just seemed so didactic and patronizing. I know it's still a popular read-aloud, but am honestly surprised by the level at which it still engages younger grades.

My son introduced me to The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling. He had read it in school and was so enthusiastic about this modern day retelling of the Midus Touch that I had to add the book to my wishlist.

John Midus is an average boy with a loving father and loving mother. He's nuts about

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candy, especially chocolate. After a yearly check up at the doctors with a warning to cut back on the sweets, Midus is given a lesson he'll soon not forget. It comes in the form of a very special piece of chocolate, one that gives his tongue and mouth the chocolate touch.

While the book is at its heart a cautionary tale about greed and selfishness, it's also a great introduction to the horror genre. John's chocolate touch evolves into a chocolate curse over the course of the day. It puts him, his things and ultimately his friends and family in danger.

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excellent first-read aloud chapter book. very entertaining and simple enough to follow

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! Can you ever have too much of your favorite food? John Midas is about to find out….

i lve the book

This is a very cute, highly entertaining read that I strongly recommend for independent readers ages 7 to 12, and for reading aloud. I just finished reading this story to my daughter, and she absolutely adored it. The illustrations are very cute, simplistic, and there's just the right amount

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interspersed throughout the story. The balance between reading and illustrations is spot on. My son read this story to himself and appreciated having the break in pages of pictures, especially as they bring the story more to life.

Both of my kids initially loved the idea of having everything they eat taste like chocolate, but by the end of the story, both of them took John Midas' lessons to heart. Since my son read this story, I have seen an impressive change in his attitude. He is very conscious of how his behavior affects others, and - I kid you not - I have not had a single problem with him eating every bite of his dinner, as it is served to him!

I wish I'd gotten this book for our personal library ages ago!

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John Midas is a kid who refuses to eat his dinner and doesn't listen to his parents. One day John discovers a coin, he trades the coin in to a mysterious store. Soon John discovers that everything he touches turns into chocolate. This seems to be the best thing that has ever happened to John

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however, he quickly discovers that it isn't. Eventually, it causes some big problems where John needs to finds a way to undo the curse.

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This was a fun read and I won this one from the Goodreads Giveaways! It might actually scare kids a bit, and get them to eat things other than candy.

Preachy and pedantic, but since it was originally published in 1952, I will let that slide due to period context. This is a King Midas retelling with a boy and chocolate teaching a lesson about selfishness and greed*. *Which is part of the moral of the original fable/tale.

Overall I didn't enjoy

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this, but I think many kids might, as will some parents. I read this as part of a reading challenge.

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