Customer Reviews

Mrs. McMurphy's Pumpkin

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a primary teacher, I search for seasonal books that lend themselves to the essense of specific times of year and science- oriented issues. I use good literature to touch on science, geography, SS and art. (There just isn't enought time in the day!)

Mrs. McMurphy's Pumpkin is rich with the colors of the season. Pumpkin blossoms and vines are everywhere. As you count down the days to Halloween, you are treated to illustrations of Mrs. McMurphy's farm in the fall - delightful.

Adding a new feature to the pumpkin's scary appearance while repeating the previous features promotes memory and pattern
understanding in young listeners. (And of course they can recall the senses - ex. "My nose is here, I smell you.")
But most importantly in these changing times, (many no longer "celebrate" Halloween because they feel focusing on Halloween can promote evil connotations) this selection is anything BUT evil.

Mrs. McMurphy's pumpkin delivers a fun, beautifully -illustrated tale that presents a scary feeling during the Halloween season without witches or goblins. It is really about a beautiful country farm and its charming, easy-going resident, Mrs. McMurphy. Farm animals, fall trees, the autumn sky.....
pumpkin vines and blossoms...fun trick-or-treaters...
A charming story, elegantly illustrated.

Cindy Vickery "teacher"

I like the little bit of suspense this book provides for the child without being overly scary. A pumpkin appears one day in Mrs. McMurphy's house , at that time the pumpkin only has a grin and no other facial features. The pumpkin tells her that when he gets his teeth , he is going to eat her. Mrs. McMurphy handles the situation beautifully, and calmly removes the pumpkin from her house .(I love when she boxes the pumpkin and sends it to the North Pole.)But the pumpkin keeps returning, and every time it does , it possesses a new facial feature. As the pumpkin continues to return the suspense builds. Finally the pumpkin returns with his teeth, and Mrs. McMurphy ends up making a pie out of the pumpkin and giving slices of it out to trick or treaters. Nicely illustrated, I love the emerging details on the pumpkin, a nice Halloween story for young children . Just enough suspense to make it a Halloween story without frightening the child too much. I like the way Mrs. McMurphy handles the pumpkin , I think it's good for children to see that you can handle things calmly.

My son is 2 and he asks for this book over and over. It's just scary enough for his attention to be riveted, but not so scary he's really afraid. And I love the message of the book about what to do when we are threatened.

Mrs. McMurphy's Pumpkin by Rick Walton and Delana Bettoli (2004) uses sequenced changes to illustrations. A mysterious, pumpkin with a mouth appears in an old woman's room and declares that as soon as it gets teeth it will eat her. The old woman throws the pumpkin out but it comes back with more facial features. She throws it out again, but it soon reappears with even more facial features. Each time she throws the pumpkin out it comes back again with a new facial feature, until it finally has teeth. Mrs. McMurphy picks the pumpkin up and chops it into a pie. The effect of the changing illustrations for the pumpkin is to build suspense in the reader. It keeps the child interested enough to keep reading. Young children learn many things including a connection between parts of the face and senses, staying calm during a crisis, and that older women can be good role models.

My 2 year old and 3 year old boys love this book. When I first started reading this book I wasn't sure about it, "as soon as my teeth are here, I'm going to eat you!" But Mrs. McMurphy handles the naughty pumpkin in a temperate way, and in the end the book met my approval.

I agree that this book has just enough suspense to make it a little scary. As a parent, I love it, because it has some parental humor in it as well. For example, when the pumpkin threatens Mrs. McMurphy, first she floats it down a river to get rid of it, and then she mails it to Alaska. It's adorable, and it's a fall favorite for my three kids.

I have a 7 year old and a 16 month old and I am constantly looking for new books for them. This book has become so special to my girls that I had to order a second book so they would each have a copy handed down to them when they get older. The illustrations are colorful and festive and the text is lively and fun. My seven year old likes to plot, while my 16 month old loves the colors and animals in the book.

This is me and my son's favorite autumnal book. I have been reading it to him since he was three years old( he is now 6) , and he loves to read along when we get to the pumpkin part and his "wicked, wicked grin". I do not think it is any scarier than Hansel and Gretel , The three bears or even The Three Billy Goats Gruff. It is beautifully illustrated, and shows how a person can calmly handle a scary situation.

The things I like best about this book is the Mrs. McMurphy is a woman who lives on her farm in the country, and she's no dummy! One morning a pumpkin comes to her home and tells her as soon as he gets a mouth he's going to eat her. Each day she nicely listens to the pumpkin each day, and then sends the pumpkin on it's way as she goes about doing her morning work around her farm. I absolutely love the colors in this book they are so bold. And the ending is really clever!

Make sure you read this book first because you know your child and how your child will react, some children might not like the pumpkin, he does look mean. My daughter never had a problem with the pumpkin.

My seven and 4 year olds love this book, but I have to say I was hesitant to read it to the four year olds a second time. Before buying this book I would have liked to have known that the pumpkin was going to be threatening Mrs. McMurphy on each page and that she was going to eventually resolve the problem with pumpkin pie...this is more violent than I usually expose my kids to in their reading, although I realize people are going to say it's all in the fun of the season, and my kids did chuckle at it. So, I used it as a lesson in standing up to bullies (minus the carving knife!)... but still kept it out of our regular rotation... if you're looking for a great kid friendly, spooky, but not so scary halloween book, I would recommend The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid Of Anything, or for a fun and happy book The Runaway Pumpkin.