King Midas and the Golden Touch

Title: King Midas and the Golden Touch
Author: Charlotte Craft
Publisher: Harper Collins
Copyright: 1999 by Charlotte Craft
Pages: 32
Ages: 4-8
Genre: Picture

Summary:
King Midas is a powerful king who has a great love of gold. The only thing that he loves more is his daughter Aurelia. He used to love roses as much as he loves gold. One day a man is found in his rose garden and is arrested and brought to him. King Midas releases him and allows him to dine with him. The next day while counting his gold the man reappears and grants him one wish. King Midas wishes for everything he touches to turn to gold. The man grants his wish. And at first the King is excited and happy. He is ecstatic that he is the richest man in the world. He decides to surprise his daughter by turning all of her beloved roses to gold, but this greatly upsets her. She can no longer smell the beautiful fragrance. He is sad that his daughter is upset but still happy that he has so much gold. That is, until he discovers that he cannot eat because everything he touches turns to gold. Aurelia is upset that her father is so distraught. She goes to comfort him, only to turn to gold as well. The King is beside himself. He has no idea what to do. The man who granted his wish reappears and tells him to undo everything that has happened he needs to wash in the river on his kingdom’s border. He needs to take a pitcher of water and sprinkle water on everything he’s changed. He leaves immediately and bathes in the water. He touches a flower to be sure that it worked and then heads home to sprinkle water on everything he changed. The first thing he does is sprinkle water on his daughter, then they go together to fix everything else. Except for one rose as a reminder to the king.

Recommendations:
I would recommend this book to everyone. It has a great moral to the story. That money isn’t everything. Family is more important that riches.

Potential Problems:
It could be scary for children with the idea of turning to gold.

My Reaction:
I didn’t particularly like this book. I thought the illustrations were beautiful but I don’t really like the story. It’s probably because I’ve heard it so many times throughout my life and I’m a little bored with it.