Customer Reviews

Pee Wee Scouts: Grumpy Pumpkins (A Stepping Stone Book(TM))

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This is a touching book about the Pee Wee Scouts and the good deeds they do at Halloween. The Pee Wee's and their leader, Mrs. Peters, have fun visiting a Pumpkin farm, picking out their own pumpkin, creating and making their halloween costumes, and visiting a nursing home. Find out the lesson Molly learns about Grumpy Pumpkins! This is one of my favorite Judy Delton books. I like the way Delton uses scouts as a theme for her books instead of athletics. It shows young children how there are many activities, other than sports, that they can participate in and enjoy. The text has humor, as well as a serious side, that combine to grab the attention of the young reader. The illustrator uses black and white, cartoon-like, sketches throughout the book that add humor and fun to the text.

ISBN 0440400651 - Printed in the United States of America; for ages 5-8. Not scary Halloween-themed books for kids are among my absolute favorite books, and I expected that this one would be right there with the others, especially since it's part of a series of books. I'm surprised to find that this book really failed to make a better impression.

The Pee Wee Scouts have Halloween plans. They're going to get to choose to carve their own pumpkins and they're going to have a costume party. The party will be held at the Crestwood Nursing Home, so that the troop can share their Halloween fun with the elderly residents. This thought doesn't seem to excite any of them, particularly Molly, who announces to Mary Beth that she has no intention of attending. It turns out that Molly's grandfather, her very grumpy grandfather, happens to live in Crestwood and Molly can't imagine having any fun when she's forced to celebrate the holiday with the grumpy old man. Things turn out far better than the kids expect and everyone has a fun time, even Molly.

Molly is the reason that I really could not enjoy this book. It isn't unusual for there to be a character in a kids' book that surprises me with their nasty attitude, and Molly is one of those. In this case, it's a little more complicated than just that because even while I was wishing someone would tell her that she was acting like a brat, Molly was also planning to help Tim, whose family is on welfare and who wouldn't be able to afford a costume, by volunteering to make one for him. Still, that one simple thing doesn't overcome the meanness with which she views her grandfather, her response when Tim wins a prize for the costume that she made, or any of the rest of her behavior. I just can't seem to agree, as the author seems to imply, that since she stopped acting like a brat, it's okay. It's not, and it's not a great example for young readers.

On the up side, the Pee Wee Scout badges that readers can cut out of the cover are a great marketing ploy - once the badge has been cut out, the damage is so visible that the book is almost not re-sellable. All author Judy Delton has to do is get enough kids cutting them out and she'll have ingeniously insured sales of new books. The illustrations by Alan Tiegreen are all right, slightly Dennis the Menace-ish and not very sharp or detailed, but all right nonetheless.

- AnnaLovesBooks