Customer Reviews

The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Richard Egielski is an accomplished children's book artist; however, many of Egielski's scenes are bleak and depressing. A good artist can accomplish lively night scenes with lots of orange and gold tones, but many of these pages bear too many browns, and grays for my liking.

In addition, the jack-o-lantern is SCARY. He has spooky eyes and a large, crooked zigzag mouth. This book is recommended for children 3 to 6 years, but that creepy jack-o-lantern will scare half the target age. Another gripe is that the children appear no older then 6, yet they're dancing around with an 8" carving knife. I wouldn't allow my 6-year old to touch a knife that size, let alone skip around a field, and carve a jack-o-lantern with it. It's preposterous!

If this story was as endearing as Goodnight Moon, or The Runaway Bunny I'd be delighted to know that Ms. Brown's works were living on for generations to enjoy, but this story is inferior to those classics. The writing is average at best, in addition, the tale doesn't even mention the word Halloween. Beyond the jack-o-lantern, there isn't anything to let us know it takes place on Halloween, yet it's categorized as a piece of Halloween fiction.

My kid doesn't like this book, because it's boring. Mama doesn't like it, because it takes advantage of a popular children's book author that passed away many years ago.

When I first purchased this book my husband thought it was a little "dark". But we have been reading it for 2 yrs to our kids and we now appreciate it for it's flowing prose and the artwork. It's definitely different and that's one of the reasons we like it!

I teach lower level 3rd graders. My children were able to repeat lines with me and interact throughout the reading of this book. The little rhyming poem about the mice being afraid of the pumpkin was perfect! My children chanted this for several days after we read the book together. They also drew illustrations to match the book.