Pumpkin Heads [Hardcover]

Are YOU ready to pick pumpkins for Halloween?

Trick or treat with this fun, fall-ready picture book celebrating that pumpkins of all shapes and sizes can be carved into spooky and spirited jack-o-lanterns.

Award-winning author and artist Wendell Minor uses simple language and striking autumn settings to celebrate jack-o'-lanterns in this glowing Halloween classic.

A perfect holiday read aloud, Pumpkin Heads takes readers and trick-or-treaters from the pumpkin patch for picking, all the way home for carving, and gets everyone in the Halloween spirit.Jack-o’-lanterns are imagined in all different shapes and styles celebrating Halloween.
“October is here. It’s time to pick a pumpkin! / On Halloween, every pumpkin becomes a pumpkin head,” the story begins, each double-page spread showing uniquely carved faces and fanciful arrangements. Each sentence or two of text describes the illustration opposite simply and without much flair, but its straightforwardness really doesn’t matter. Minor’s illustrations are stunning, speaking for themselves. Some are haunting, like the impressively realistic deer skull, shadows cast by the antlers at play on the wall, a grimacing pumpkin perched on top. Others evoke quintessential autumnal feelings, like the clapboard-sided house decked out with pumpkins, a wide full moon set behind it, bats fluttering by. Details abound: Individual blades of grass look caught midbreeze; misty gray clouds form a backdrop for tiny tombstones; nail heads are visible in the split of wood grain around a window. The illustrations read spooky rather than cute but are nevertheless still age appropriate. A pale silhouette of a jack-o’-lantern floats behind each block or line of text, a nice touch that adds depth without detracting from the focal illustration. Truly, grab this one just to lilS¸