Bud was a kid, like any other kid. He liked pizza and ice cream. He liked to watch TV. But what happens when a kid (like any other kid) eats way too much junk food and watches way too much TV, and never, ever leaves the couch?

You guessed it: he turns into a couch potato. Literally!

You won’t believe what happens to him next. . . .

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, it was mostly middle-aged men and women who seemed to live their lives in front of the television, munching on salty, sweet junk food.

Unfortunately, more and more children and pre-teens have been joining this movement—or should we say non-movement! That is what prompted Adam Byrn Tritt to imagine what happens to these young sedentary grazers. He shares his vision in Bud the Spud, graphically captured by “Java John” Goldacker.

In a unique feature, the book has three separate endings—three different outcomes for poor Bud—which range from the positive and uplifting to the decidedly macabre. Kids will scream and laugh and wince (read more here). While some parents may initially think the comic mayhem is too over-the-top, when they see their kids giggling and reading the book over and over, most change their minds (read more here).

Each ending in Bud the Spud offers a chance for parents and kids to discuss a topic that may in the past have only led to arguments and screaming. The goal of Tritt and Goldacker is screams of laughter—because behind the humor is a serious message. This book is a stealth weapon to help combat childhood obesity, a tool to convince young people that aspiring to be a couch potato is no aspiration at all.

Bud the Spud was created to be read aloud, and has been field-tested with children of all ages, from elementary through middle school—though teens love the book too, even when they’re pretending to be too cool for it!

Read below for news, fun things to do, book tour information, and some thoughts from the book’s creators on how the book came to be and where we go from here. And be sure to click around our site for book reviews, a fabulous video, and some very, very interesting merchandise.

(By the way, all of the images on our site get much larger when you click on them!)