Customer Reviews

The Pumpkin Patch Parable: Special Edition (Parable Series)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is the perfect book for bringing a Christian perspective to the celebration of Halloween! Liz Curtis Higgs tells the story of the Farmer, who plants a garden bearing all kinds of vegetables. His favorite vegetable is the pumpkin, which grows in all different sizes and shapes. When it's harvest time, the Farmer carefully picks the pumpkin, scoops out the slimy pulp, carves a face, and places a light inside.

The story ends by telling how God is the Farmer, and we are just like those pumpkins, chosen by Him, made clean and given His light. For older readers, this similarity is reinforced by appropriate Bible verses on the bottom of each page.

I use this book every year just before Halloween in my third grade Sunday School class. My students are just learning to use their Bibles, so I start by having the kids look up some of the verses before we read the story. Those verses that seemed dry and dusty before the story come alive when we read about the Farmer. I also share this book with my own, younger kids, just before we carve jack-o'-lanterns. We remember the parable and its meaning every time we see one of those grinning pumpkins.

As a first grade teacher and a Sunday School teacher I was able to get double duty from my book! It let children know that the Halloween season need not be scary and it also helped my public school children to realize the time it takes to grow a pumpkin. I only wish the author would of had that nice farmer save the seeds to be planted the next year.

This is a great story that can help people of all ages, even though geared to children, understand the message of the Gospel in a creative way. This doesn't have to be associated with the celebration of Halloween. I know that many people who profess to be Christians still like to celebrate Halloween and feel that this story helps to tie it to their faith. That shouldn't make this a bad book for those who don't think Halloween has a place in the lives of Christians. Putting a face on a pumpkin to do something fun during fall harvest is a spiritually neutral activity. It just doesn't have to be about Halloween. I am glad that people like Ms Higgs take the time to do something positive for this time of year--something that takes the focus OFF of Halloween.

Are you looking for a great harvest book? Here it is! Noscary monters or evil themes here! The farmer cleans out the messinside the pumpkin and makes it shine for everyone to see. God does the same thing to us! A great way to celebrate the season so many Christians have a hard time with!

This is a beautful story. This story teaches us how a farmer changes a pumpkin into a aweome sight just like Jesus changes us when we accpet his love. It was beauful illustrated with bible verses at the bottom of every page. I used this book when I taught Sunday School. My children love the pictures. This is a great book!!!!!

This book is a wonderful book for children who do not celebrate Halloween. It has a Christian theme running throughout, but could be used without the verses as a great read-aloud book for any group of young children.

The Pumpkin Patch Parable is another book in the Parable Series. Even though the story is about pumpkins, it's not about Halloween, as the author points out in the introduction to the book: "Since the Lord Himself created pumpkins, it seemed appropriate to redeem this familiar symbol of the harvest season for his good purpose." The story is about a farmer who grows pumpkins. Each year he tends them and watches them grow. When the pumpkins are ready for harvest, he picks them and chooses one for a jack-o-lantern. The farmer turns the pumpkin into a beacon on his porch for all his neighbors to see and enjoy. Bible verses throughout the text illustrate how God wants us to shine our lights for all to see.

The story was different, and I liked that. The main character was the farmer, but I guess you could also count the pumpkin as a character. The story wasn't written with children as the main characters, but any child who is familiar with pumpkins will enjoy the story. And, the illustrations throughout the book are as bright and colorful as those on the cover.

Christine M. Irvin - Christian Children's Book Review

Wonderful book for children, I used this as part of a "children's church" lesson and all age groups loved it!

I think it's wonderful book and I'm a christian. Everything was made by god including pumpkins and carving pumpkins is fun. It does not have to be evil and the fact that you can do it and teach your child about god is wonderful. Just wondering if the people who judge the book as trying to turn evil into good buy christmas trees and decorate them?? Did you know that is also a Pagan tradition with roots not honoring god?? How many Christians buy and decorate Christmas trees?? I would say step back and look more closely at yourself before judging others. In the Bible we are not bound by law but by grace. How can anything that teaches about god be sinful?? It does not matter what people did thousands of years ago but it does matter that we honor god in our words and actions today. I don't see the harm in this book.

I used the story to teach a bible study with a whole bunch of kids. We had so much fun.