Customer Reviews

Too Many Pumpkins

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Linda White shows a side of life that people do not often see nowadays--the optimistic approach to life. What do you do when your childhood experiences have led you to, quite frankly, hate pumpkins, and through an odd twist of circumstances you end up with a houseful of them?! Make the best of it! Too Many Pumpkins is a wonderful (and educational--watch the seeds grow!) Autumn/Halloween book without the spooks and goblins that aren't always suitable for a bedtime story. This is a delightful read with beautiful illustrations that your children will love, and you won't mind reading it "just one more time." Go ahead--read it with your little Pumpkin...and then bake a pumpkin pie together.

Rebecca Estelle has a problem on her hands. Rebecca Estelle is a white-haired woman who lives with her calico cat Esmeralda. She hates pumpkins because when she was a youngster her family was poor and ALL they had to eat was pumpkins. She doesn't even like to think about them. One day a truck loaded with pumpkins loses a pumpkin that smashes in Rebecca Estelle's yard and sends seeds flying every which way. When plants spring up she refuses to tend to them and just ignores them all summer long. She won't even go over near the space where the pumpkin smashed. In autumn, much to her surprise there is a huge pumpkin patch just filled with beautiful big orange pumpkins. At first she is horrified. There is a SEA of pumpkins! She uses her clever ingeniuity and her practical good sense to figure out a wonderful way to not only use up the pumpkins, but to attract many people to help her share the pumpkins. She ends up with a delightful party atmosphere, sharing a happy Halloween and she patches up her differences with pumpkins. The illustrations are utterly charming, brightly colored and filled with warm and homey country scenes. The feeling of autumn's hazy nostalgia and the wonderful aromas of harvest baking almost leap up out of the pages. Parents will enjoy reading this one every year at Halloween and the kids will love it for years to come.

With a captivating and amusing storyline and brilliant illustrations, "Too Many Pumpkins" is a family favorite. It will delight the youngest reader and Mom and Dad will enjoy reading it over and over! It is a wonderful introduction to the world of gardening and the Halloween season while avoiding many of the things young children may find frightening about that holiday. Truly a treasure!

This is a book that stays with you even when you are not reading it! My older son has adored this book for years and now my younger son is requesting it as well... I think I could probably recite it from memory at this point! We are often caught in the rhyme of "pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pies..." when found in the kitchen or picking pumpkins or other activities that remind us of this book! Definately a well read book in our house - and a keeper for the library for years to come! Oh, and amongst the enjoyment are heart-felt lessons to learn and grow on.

A delightful lesson in what to do when life hands you too many pumpkins -- and you hate pumpkins!! In no way preachy or ponderous, this book shows what happens when you ignore a problem, and has lovely ideas of how to make the best of a bad situation, how to share and give to others.

Too Many Pumpkins is well-written, entertaining and fun to read aloud.

This is a wonderful children's book! The illustrations were a delight. Hunter (age 6) and I thought it was just the right length for a good story. This book made Hunter want to bake a pie!

The story AND pictures in this book are outstanding. The story's rich character, Rebecca Estelle, comes to life on the page with Megan Lloyd's beautiful illustrations. If you love pumpkins and fall this book is a must have! I love it so much I read it over and over again all year...not just in the fall. However, I ALWAYS share it with my first graders in October and they love it as much as I do! A hardback edition is available from the publisher.

We originally checked this book out of the library 2 years ago. We immediately loved it and bought our own copy. This is a favorite with my daughters, ages 3 and 5. They will request it all year long. This is probably the best children's book I have ever read. The story is funny, enchanting, and I love the subtle lesson in it. The illustrations are perfect. We love Rebecca Estelle!

Linda White, the author, did a superb job of telling this story, which was inspired by her aunt during the days of the depression. An elderly woman, Rebecca Estelle, loves her garden. She enjoys planting her flowers and food for the year with her pet cat as her company. Rebecca hates pumpkins because her family had to eat nothing but that for years when they were poor. She has vowed to never even look at another pumpkin again, but her kindness takes over and as the story unravels she realizes that pumpkins hold a special place in her heart. Adorably detailed pictures with a great feeling of autumn and fall days.

This is a delightful fall story that is fun, simple, and teaches as well.This has quickly become the favorite of my 3 & 5 year old, and I do not mind reading it every night for bedtime.