How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? [Hardcover]

Margaret McNamara (Author), G. Brian Karas (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up | Grade Level: P and up

"HOW MANY SEEDs in a pumpkin?" Mr. Tiffin asks his class as they gather around the big, medium, and small pumpkins on his desk. Robert, the biggest kid, guesses that the largest one has a million seeds; Elinor, sounding like she knows what she's talking about, guesses the medium one has 500 seeds; and Anna, who likes even numbers better than odd ones, guesses that the little one has 22. Charlie, the smallest boy in the class, doesn't have a guess. Counting pumpkin seeds is messy business, but once the slimy job is done, to everyone's surprise, the smallest pumpkin has the most seeds! As Charlie happily exclaims, "Small things have a lot going on inside of them."

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This versatile and sincere story will teach math and science concepts while modeling kind behavior. When Mr. Tiffin brings three pumpkins into class for a math and science lesson, all the children guess how many seeds are inside. Charlie, the smallest kid in class, feels frustrated: "All the best guesses are taken." Then the class opens the pumpkins and counts the seeds. McNamara introduces the concepts of counting by twos, fives, and tens, and she includes pumpkin facts (the more lines on the pumpkin, the more seeds it will have). Charlie ends up with the correct guess and discovers that "small things can have a lot going on inside them." Karas' simple, effective illustrations, in the autumnal colors of a fall landscape, capture the multicultural students' feelings, especially Charlie's quiet confusion and eventual flush of pride and confidence. Carton, Debbie

Review

Review, San Francisco Chronicle (circ: 329,989), September 30, 2007:
"There's quite a lot to learn about pumpkins in this book, which even a math-phobe can love, plus there's kids working together and having their minds opened once their assumptions are trounced. Karas' stylized illustrations capture the fun of an engaging, hands-on classroom project."
—Regan McMahon

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Schwartz & Wade (July 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375840141
• ISBN-13: 978-0375840142
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 0.4 x 10.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #523,748 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Margaret McNamara is the pen-name for a children's book editor and literary agent. She is the author of more than two dozen books for young readers. Many of the ideas for her books, especially the Robin Hill School titles, come from her daughter's school days, or her own. Margaret and her family live in New York City, and spend as much time as they can during the summer in Maine.

The author says, "I chose the name 'Margaret McNamara' because it was my maternal grandmother's name. The real Margaret McNamara grew up a very long time ago in County Clare in Ireland, and was the only one in her village who could read."

Author Margaret McNamara is now at work on a book about George Washington's seventh birthday, and another book about the characters in "How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin," who this time solve a riddle. You can find out more about Margaret at her website, www.margaretmcnamara.net, which will be coming soon.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Charmingly mathematical, January 23, 2008

By 

pleureur. - See all my reviews

This review is from: How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? (Hardcover)

This book depicts a class of ten children who are given three pumpkins (big, medium, and small) and asked how many seeds are in a pumpkin? The children estimate, scrape the seeds out themselves, decide what method to use to determine the number of seeds, and then count using that method (skip-counting, with one group counting by 2s, another by 5s, and Charlie the protagonist counting by 10s). They then realize that the small pumpkin has the most seeds, and their teacher explains why. The children are enthusiastic in their mathematical endeavor. The illustrations are charming, and the kids are depicted very expressively throughout.

There was some effort put into making the class diverse, as the children have a range of skin and hair colors, with four boys and six girls in the class of ten. Also the "lesson" to not be deceived by small size is a bit strained considering that the teacher continues to line the children up by height throughout the book. That aside, it is a book that my children enjoyed reading. Over and over again.

Also includes a page of factual information about pumpkins.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice teaching compliment to counting pumpkin seeds, December 31, 2007

By 

Megan Pillsbury (Piedmont, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? (Hardcover)

This book was a wonderful accompaniment to counting pumpkin seeds in our first grade classroom. It would be appropriate for any of the lower grades. I read the first part before the children dug seeds out of pumpkins and counted them and allowed them to come up with their own estimates and strategies for keeping track of the amounts. Then we returned to the book to see how the class in the book counted theirs. It included some interesting facts about pumpkins and ways to predict which have the most seeds. Along with the good mathematical thinking was a nice metaphor for the small boy in the story about the smallest pumpkin having the most seeds. Nice illustrations.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?, October 24, 2008

By 

Amber L. - See all my reviews

This review is from: How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? (Hardcover)

This book is about a young boy, Charlie who is shorter than all his other classmates. Charlie dislikes having to line up at school because Mr. Tiffin has his class do so by size, and Charlie is always last. Until one day Mr. Tiffin comes up with a class activity where he has the class count pumpkin seeds. There are three pumpkins, one is big, one is medium and the other is small. He has the students get into groups to count the seeds in the pumpkins. Charlie is in a group all alone and ends up with the small pumpkin. Everyone seems to think his will have the least amount of seeds because it is the smallest. Until finally the class counts and reveals how many seeds were in the pumpkins it just so happens Charlie's pumpkin had the most seeds. Charlie then comes to realize small is okay after all. Mr. Tiffin allows the class to line up after they count the seeds by smallest to largest and Charlie finally is the first in line! This is a great book to use with young children who are learning to count in groups and the illustrations also appear to represent a diverse group of students. Each of them are a little different than the other in terms of size, color and the type of clothing they wear.