Alberto Salas Plays Paka Paka con la Papa: Join the Quest with Peru's Famed Scientist and Potato Expert

by Sara Andrea Fajardo, Juana Martinez-Neal (Illustrator)

Overview

What can a potato do? To Peruvian scientist Alberto Salas, they have the power to change the world. Go on the hunt with Alberto for for wild potatoes before they go extinct in this playful picture book biography, gorgeously illustrated by Caldecott-honoree Juana Martinez-Neal.

High up in the Andes mountains of Peru, agricultural scientist Alberto Salas is on a quest. A quest... for potatoes.

Up and down the Andes mountains he goes, playing an epic game of paka paka con la papa, potato hide and seek. These potatoes are special: they have the power to feed the world.

Alberto doesn't have a second to waste. The climate is changing and Alberto must find each and every one to save them before they go extinct.

The game is on!

Alberto races and peers and prods. Drives and trods and climbs. Will he find the potato he seeks? Will he win the game of paka paka con la papa?

Author Sara Andrea Fajardo’s spirited biography about “the godfather of potatoes” is paired with lush art by Caldecott-honoree Juana Martinez-Neal to capture how celebrated scientist Alberto Salas brings joy, curiosity, and fun to his very important, life-changing work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250838612
Publisher:	Roaring Brook Press
Publication date:	03/18/2025
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Sara A. Fajardo is a Peruvian-American writer whose dad constantly reminded her that potatoes are from the Andes. So, she jumped at the chance to work as a consultant for the International Potato Center. Over the years she’s learned which potatoes help paint your lips the perfect shade of red, how to cure a sour stomach with potato, and how much we owe the farmers and plant scientists who care for our potatoes. She’s never met a potato she doesn’t love and wants the world to know that a sweetpotato is as related to a potato as a lemur is to a gorilla. Please don’t ever tell her that your favorite potato is a sweetpotato because it will lead to a very long yet loving lecture.

Juana Martinez-Neal is the Peruvian-born daughter and granddaughter of painters. Her debut as an author-illustrator, Alma and How She Got Her Name, was awarded a Caldecott Honor, and Zonia’s Rain Forest was named an ALA Top 10 Sustainability-themed Children’s Book. She illustrated New York Times bestselling picture book Tomatoes for Neela by Padma Lakshmi; Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard, which won a Robert F. Sibert Medal; and La Princesa and the Pea by Susan M. Elya, for which she won a Pura Belpré Illustrator Award. She also co-illustrated with Molly Idle I Don’t Care by Julie Fogliano. Juana Martinez-Neal lives in Connecticut with her family.

Editorial Reviews

★"Thematic connections to environmentalism and sustainability in our changing modern world, told through a Latinx lens, this is a highly recommended title for all nonfiction collections." -School Library Journal, starred review

★"A lovely tribute to an unassuming yet impactful changemaker." -Booklist, starred review

★"In a warm palette, Caldecott Honoree Martinez-Neal’s lush mixed-media illustrations convey Salas’s dedication and the potatoes as jewels hiding in an ever-shifting landscape. Fajardo smartly melds playful language with an urgent conservationist message..." -Publishers Weekly, starred review

★"[A]n affable, often playful tone and a loose yet incredibly informative narrative peppered with words in Spanish and Quechua, Fajardo recounts the potato expert’s adventures in all their glory..." -Kirkus, starred review

★"This tribute to a contemporary figure will no doubt strike a chord with young readers." -BookPage, starred review

"Fajardo’s playful narrative brings readers along on Salas’s quest, touching lightly but directly on other serious issues that affect his work, such as climate change and human encroachment on natural habitats." -Horn Book

From the Publisher

★ 2024-12-14
A potato hunter’s game of hide-and-seek nourishes the world in this quirky biographic tribute.

Alberto Salas is on a mission: to discover and document all the potatoes he can “before they’re lost for good.” The renowned Peruvian agronomist—affectionately portrayed as a rosy-cheeked, wiry-haired, squat man clad in a yellow coat—plays the game of potato paka paka (or hide-and-seek), scouring the Andes to support the development and proliferation of potatoes across the world. Each day the growing effects of climate change make his endeavor more urgent. Blending an affable, often playful tone and a loose yet incredibly informative narrative peppered with words in Spanish and Quechua, Fajardo recounts the potato expert’s adventures in all their glory, putting the story into a broader context that makes clear the global issue of widespread hunger. The author homes in on Salas’ precise methods and unorthodox solutions, including homemade maps and newspaper pouches to transport plants. Working in paper collage, Martinez-Neal favors dabs of rich colors among broad landscapes of earthy browns and lots of potatoes of different shapes and sizes to bring Salas’ potato exploits to life, including his collaboration with Indigenous communities. A robust glossary and backmatter delving further into Salas’ work and the diversity of potatoes round out a sublime portrait. Publishes simultaneously in Spanish.

A remarkable path to starch-dom. (author’s and illustrator’s notes)(Picture-book biography. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews