Got Books? One Potato Two Potato

Book club this week was so rushed. By the time the first guest had arrived, the kitchen had not been cleaned and I had forgotten to eat lunch. While one child entertained the guests, the others ran around cleaning while I tried to get something to eat. The snack person didn't show so I was running around between acts to get some cookies in the oven! ...and we leave tomorrow to go out of town for a few weeks... so my mind was not totally focused...
Despite all of that... The show went on.
No one had gotten the book the girls had chosen, so I set out a Bluebonnet picture book, One Potato, Two Potato by Cynthia DeFelice and had the girls each take turns acting out a few pages. Everyone participated. It took a long time to do the activity, and I was thrilled about that. It gave me time to get some cookies in the oven! I kept the theme going by making potato stamps. The girls had half of a potato and used a butter knife to carve a stamp into the potatoes. They came out ok... It was much harder than I had anticipated. They stamped for awhile but the thick paint did not stamp well and the girls ended up doing finger painting instead of painting with stamps. Maybe try stamp pads? Anyone use potatoes on stamp pads before?
Finding a book to read is as hard as I had thought it would be... any suggestions for soon-to-be 5th and 6th grade girls?