Alberto Salas Plays Paka Paka con la Papa

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.

Reviews

⭐ “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... A robust glossary and backmatter delving further into Salas’ work and the diversity of potatoes round out a sublime portrait.”

—Kirkus

⭐ “Fajardo (Crack Goes the Cascarón) smartly melds playful language with an urgent conservationist message, underlining the importance of Salas’s ‘serious game’— ‘a childhood game, helping to feed the world.‘”

—Publishers Weekly

⭐ “ Fajardo’s picture book biography capably foregrounds the science of plant collection and identification, specifically within the context of the planet’s changing landscape and climate.”

—School Library Journal

⭐ “A lovely tribute to an unassuming yet impactful changemaker.”

—Booklist

⭐ ” Fajardo seamlessly interweaves Spanish and Quechuan phrases into the text (a glossary appears later) while highlighting the scientist’s plant-finding skills in places that vary from the peak of a remote mountain to the middle of a city zoo.”

—Bookpage

Noteworthy

Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Publisher’s Weekly—Best Books of 2025