The Chocolate Touch

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. Who is King Midas? What lessons should audiences learn from his story?

Teaching Suggestion: Since the novel presents another version of the tale of King Midas, studying this myth before reading will be beneficial. Students might take pre-reading notes on the myth’s plot points and character traits, then look for correlations in the novel. As they read, students may find it interesting to discuss how this novel transforms the original myth and evaluate the author’s style and effects of specific choices. To gain a more nuanced understanding of the myth, students might expand this exploration by acting out the King Midas story in tableaus, which can offer additional ways to interact with and learn from the story visually and kinesthetically. Additionally, this prompt connects to the next question about greed.

• This 5-minute video from Geethanjali Kids presents the story of King Midas.
• This resource from Britannica Kids provides background about King Midas in Greek mythology. It has links with options for different reading levels.

2. How can greed harm people? What are some examples of different ways that greed can be hurtful?

Teaching Suggestion: The main character expresses greed in his singular focus on chocolate candy. He is not the only greedy character; rather than focusing on helping John, Dr. Cranium considers his own personal gain. Other characters demonstrate the trait of greed as well. Students can expand their knowledge and understanding about greed using these resources, which could guide them to deeper comprehension of the novel. Students might have some experience with “The Emperor’s New Clothes”; reviewing this story may offer another opportunity to make connections as students read the novel. The TEDx Talk connects the topic to the environment, education, and more. Taking time for a more in-depth exploration can also encourage students to recognize the complexities included in different motivations of characters, which will contribute to more layered analysis of characters later.

• Short Kid Stories presents “The Emperor's New Clothes” by Hans Christian Andersen in written and audio form.
• In this 8-minute TEDxYouth Talk, Audrey Novak explores greed in our society and urges people to become “instigator[s] of change.”

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

What superpower would you want to have? Why? What are the downsides of your choice of superpower?

Teaching Suggestion: Initially, John is ecstatic about his new ability to turn things into chocolate. Powers can have positive and negative sides, though, and he soon realizes the negative side to his chocolate power. If students ponder this idea before reading based on their own personal interests, they will increase the potential for text-to-self connections as they read. This prompt can lead to more thorough analysis of John as a character as well. It might benefit the class to list ideas for superpowers and discuss one or more together. Appropriate movies, comics, books, and games might be discussed in order to engage students and provide a wide variety of examples of superpowers. Encouraging students to share their favorite connections to superpowers can build agency and classroom community.

Differentiation Suggestion: To increase engagement and best meet all learning styles, students might respond in a variety of formats, including visual arts, skits, music, graphs, and journals.