Customer Reviews

Pumpkins: A Story for a Field

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Mary Lyn Ray's "Pumpkins: A Story for a field" tells the story of a man's love affair with the open field across from his house. When he sees a "for sale" sign he cries and then decides to take action. After consulting the field, the man decides to grow pumpkins, which he then sends - via boats, planes, trucks and flying carpets - around the world. In Kartoum, Cairo, and Tashkent people buy the round, orange, bumpy pumpkins and then start carving jack-of-lanterns, eating pumpkin ice cream and making pumpkin muffins.

The beautiful illustrations and sweet, funny story captivated, me, my husband's middle school age students, and our 1.5 year old son. Without being preachy or mushy, this book is a wonderful story about land conservation in the real world.

I am lucky enough to be able to see Ms. Ray and thumb through her books at the Concord Farmers Market each weekend. She is a lovely, magical lady and this is a lovely, magical book! I cried when I first read it and it still makes me weepy because it shows such love and hope. (I am a grownup.) It is also very witty and it SOUNDS good out loud, so parents won't get tired of reading it over and over to the children. Everyone should have a chance to read and re-read Pumpkins, any time of year (it's not a Halloween book, really). Several local conservation organizations carry this book because it demonstrates (in a technically unrealistic way, but that really doesn't matter) how one person can make a big difference. I can't imagine anyone not being touched and amused by this book.

This sweet book captivates younger readers with its wonderful painting illustrations, and the simple story of one man's determination. I love the spare, simple text full of evocative details (when he needs to write explanatory tags for every pumpkin he ships to countries that don't have pumpkins, "luckily he knew how to write in many languages"). This is one of those that I get a lump in my throat reading even after who knows how many times through it.

Our 5th grade uses this book to review and demonstrate real uses of economics terms we've learned. Kids have a worksheet with simple definitions of terms and the following columns. Production- Natural Resources,Capital Equipment,Human Capital; Distribution - How?,Where?; and Consumption - Uses. As we read the book together, the kids write examples from the story under the correct heading (we stop often and prompt "Did we hear some Natural Resources?" YES - the field, the seeds, sun, rain. etc.) This book is such an easy-going way to introduce 10-11 year olds(possibly younger) to the terms and understanding of Economics. Illustrations are also very engaging and gentle.

My son's (4 1/2) current enthrallment is pumpkins--he loves the book Pumpkin Day, Pumpkin Night. So when we found this book at the library the other day he was happy to sit and read it. For some reason we didn't check it out and had to go back the next day to get it (and I've since purchased it here). The subtle absurdities and lovely turns of phrase make this a wonderful book--subversive on the order of Good Dog Carl--and the illustrations are lovely. We love reading this together so much that he's memorized the words and loves to talk about walking in the field amoung the young hills that grow up to be mountains. Highly recommended.

I use this book each year to teach my class about different countries and means of travel. I made up math related questions for small group work that includes estimating how many pumpkins could fit on/in each means of travel, How many for sale signs the man had to make, the children time themselves writing out the for sale sign that was attached to each pumpkin. Each child also uses multiplication, divison, estimating with the use of calculators. In the end the book, Pumpkins is a sotry for the chidren to express fellings and emotions about the mans experience in his field of dreams.

I have read this book to my class each year. My book is so old, it has yellowed. Now that I'm retired I read it to any class I substitute teach in the fall.
My grandchildren are now old enough to understand the book so I bought this book for them. I want them to enjoy the story and hopefully get the meaning. I know that a lot of it is fantasy, but the meaning is important and the fantasy hooks the listeners.