Book Review of Molly and Potato
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The Children’s Book Review
Molly and Potato
Written by Dr. Kelly Curtin & Molly Hallinan
Illustrated by Aabshar Khan
Ages: 4-6 | 36 Pages
Publisher: Curtin Publishing (2025) | ISBN: 979-8349431197
What to Expect: Friendship, cancer, pet adoption, grief, healing, emotional support.
Written by a mom and daughter team and based on their real-life experiences, this twin set of stories teaches readers that it’s okay to have mixed-up feelings when life brings you mixed blessings.
Molly and Potato are both feeling sad and mad when they first meet. Molly is sad and mad because her mom has had cancer. Molly’s mom never wanted her to have a dog, but after her illness, she sees that having a dog might help Molly feel better. Potato is sad and mad because his broken teeth have meant it’s taken a long time to find a family willing to adopt him.
Molly and Potato love each other, but they also feel confused—if bad things hadn’t happened to them, they might never have met! However, once Potato joins Molly’s family, they both learn two important things: that it’s okay to feel sad about the past, and that with each other’s support, they can also feel happy now.
The first story is told from Molly’s perspective and the second from Potato’s perspective, and the mirroring of language between the two helps readers see that neither Molly nor Potato is really as alone as they feel. Molly is an honest and resilient narrator, and Potato is a cute and cuddly survivor; together, they make the perfect pair as protagonists for the story. The Pixar-style artwork and short sentences keep the text accessible for even young readers, while several pages of resources on both cancer and pet adoption at the back of the book provide real-life support for readers who share the authors’ experiences.
Empowering and validating, Molly and Potato is the perfect story for readers battling with emotional struggles—but be prepared to visit your local animal shelter after reading!
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About the Author
Dr. Kelly Curtin, DO FAAP CHCQM is a pediatrician and writer whose work explores her illness, motherhood, and trauma. She brings clinical insight and personal experience to works that examine what it means to be heard, to survive, and to live without regret. She is a state and nationally recognized pediatrician for her work with children and oral health advocacy, as well as a mother to three amazing kids. She wrote this book to support kids facing Adverse Childhood Events, as she herself was one. Against all odds, she is a cancer survivor and she couldn’t feel more lucky.
Read her most recent essays “The Life You Save May Be Your Own“, “Luck of the Irish: A Parable of Inheritance, Illness, and Hope” and “A Simple Twist of Fate: My Improbable Survival of Stage 4 Cancer ” on www.kevinmd.com.
About the Author
Molly Hallinan was born in the sweetest place on earth, Hershey, PA. She loves her family. She is very close to her mom and she worries a lot. She was overjoyed by adopting her dog and writing a book about her experience.
To learn more, visit www.mollyandpotato.com.
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