Runaway Pumpkins [Hardcover]

Roll into pumpkin season this autumn with a fall favorite perfect for storytime.

A field trip to the pumpkin patch almost ends in disaster in this rollicking picture book tale of resourcefulness and resilience. Perfect for preschoolers and early elementary schoolers.

The old adage of when life hands you lemons, make lemonade is reborn with pumpkins! When a bumpy road and a faulty bus storage lock release a load of handpicked pumpkins back into the wild, the students on a field trip are left with a single pumpkin. Pluckily, they decide to take what they have and do what they can. Together they decorate the only surviving pumpkin for their harvest fair.

But good fortune comes knocking the next day when a group of kind neighbors arrives at the school. They found the smashed pumpkins and turned them into celebratory seasonal fare, perfect for sharing: yummy soup, cake, pie, and even fries!In rhyming verse, readers learn about a field trip to a pumpkin patch that goes horribly wrong; on the way home, the pumpkins fall out of the storage bins on the bus. The kids are disappointed and then surprised by how the people of the town help them get their pumpkins back. Autumnal hues in the color palette support the story perfectly, showing a diverse population that is happily collectively problem-solving. The pictures are detailed enough to encourage one-on-one sharing but large enough for story hours. The text has a catchy beat, with some unusual vocabulary sprinkled in to help with language skills. This story would be an excellent choice to add to a fall unit of study or to pair with a nonfiction look at harvests and fall festivals. VERDICT An entertaining story with exciting surprises along the way, this is a strong ­addition to most collections.
—School Library Journal

Let’s hear it for smashed pumpkins!
Excitel#-