Title: How BIG Could You Grow Your Pumpkin?
By Wendell Minor
Published by Nancy Paulson Books, 2013
Ages: 2-5
Themes: pumpkins, monuments, USA history,
Opening Lines:
At the pumkin farm, we pick the perfect pumpkin. Some are little, some are big, and some are GIANT-sized.
Synopsis:
This is a festive fall concept book for preschoolers. This is a celebratory and creative book about the pumpkin its folkloric evolution and its potential! Giant pumpkins have become the norm at country fairs. Who knew? I certainly didn’t, that the latest trend is to carve out this giant gourds into racing boats to be paddled across country ponds! But Wendell Minor doesn’t want the reader to be limited by present uses of the humble pumpkin, he exhorts children to stretch their imaginations and come up, along with Wendell, with some humungous ideas for ginormous pumpkins set in famous locations across the United States. A bulbous pumpkin lantern competes with a Carolina lighthouse. A jumbo cowboy pumpkin sprouts up amongst the Texan oil wells. The pumpkin grows bigger and bigger with each page until, well, you’ll need to buy the book to see!
Why I like this book:
Activities/Resources:
This lends itself naturally to an art activity where the children illustrate their own outsized pumpkin in some local or distant location!
See how many synonyms for big the class/child can come up with.
I personally would love to visit a New England Pumpkin Regatta. Anyone who does, please post photos for us!
Every Friday, authors and KidLit bloggers post a favorite picture book. To see a complete listing of all the Perfect Picture Books with resources, please visit author Susanna Leonard Hill’s Perfect Picture Books.
Smashing pick! We just brought home a bunch yesterday.
Out of all of the Halloween books I’ve seen, this one is my favorite. You just want to grab it off the shelf and hug it. The cover is beautiful! But, I especially how he engages young minds to think outside of the box in the ways a gigantic pumpkin can be used. Liked the book trailer.
I know they have contests in New Hampshire for the biggest pumpkin grown each year. A friend of mine won this year, and the pumpkin was hundreds of pounds! Amazing!
Sounds super, Joanna. This would be great for carving ideas for the pumpkin competition.
Oh, we just missed the regatta in Damariscotta Maine!
We could have met Hazel for lunch, toured the alewife smokehouse. 🙂
Cute book concept, and nice review.
What a cool book! I am always amazed at HUGE pumpkins. It is incredible how big they can get! I like the idea that the pumpkins appear in different places around the country. 🙂
Wendell Minor is such a national treasure. This is one of my favorite books of his (although, I tend to say that of all his books).
I missed this when it was posted. ‘Glad I noticed it now.Thanks!