Happy Friday, Everyone!
Guess what?
We got snow last night!
Have you had your first snow yet this year?
I’m afraid I wasn’t ready with a book about snow, but I do have a lovely story of fall and friendship to share today 🙂
Title: The Very Best Pumpkin
Written By: Mark Kimball Moulton
Illustrated By: Karen Hillard Good
Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books, August 2010, Fiction
Suitable For Ages: 4-8
Themes/Topics: friendship, seasons (autumn), nature/gardening (pumpkins)
Opening: “Down a winding country lane and over a rolling hill you’ll find Pumpkin Hollow Farm, where a young boy named Peter lives with his grandparents, Mimi and Papa.”
Brief Synopsis: While caring for pumpkins on his grandparents’ farm, Peter discovers a little lonely one all off by itself. He takes special care of it, and it grows into a beautiful perfect pumpkin. Will he save it for himself? Or give it to someone special?
Links To Resources: the back of the book has “Peter’s Guide To Growing Your Own Very Best Pumpkin”; easy recipe for pumpkin bread; Jack-O-Lantern and Pumpkin Coloring Pages; go for a walk and look for signs of autumn; talk about how to make a friend
Why I Like This Book: The story is simple, sweet, and very appealing. Peter tends the pumpkins while Meg, brand new to the neighborhood and given to sitting alone and reading, keeps an interested (but distant) eye on the proceedings. When Meg comes to the pumpkin farm to pick a pumpkin, she can’t find the right one… until Peter leads her out to his special pumpkin (which he has carefully saved, knowing she has been there watching) and gives it to her – the beginning of a beautiful friendship. The art is warm, and inviting – full of charm and homey details. All around, a comforting and cozy read. And you get to learn a little something about growing pumpkins as an added bonus 🙂
For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.
Before we all go off to read everyone’s wonderful selections for the week, I want to thank you all for your kind and supportive comments on Wednesday. Such thoughtfulness and friendship truly make dealing with rejection easier, and your kindness meant so much to me. And I just want you to know that I didn’t write that post with the intent of getting sympathy – I wanted to share the things that matter to me, the things I love about my writing life, along with the reality of this path we’ve chosen. I wanted other writers not to feel alone on their hard days because we all have them. And I wanted people to know that rejection can happen at any stage in your writing career – it’s not just for those who are new to the publishing world! It just goes with the territory. And maybe the rejections help us savor the acceptances just that much more, the disappointments making the joy that much sweeter. All that said, I very much appreciated your sympathy and feel lucky to have such friends! 🙂 And I hope any of you who gets an acceptance will come over here and shout it from the rooftops so we can all celebrate with you! 🙂
Oh! And one more thing! On Monday (good lord willing and the creek don’t rise!) I will have a special post to share with y’all! It’s something good… something exciting… something full of potential goodies… so you won’t want to miss it! Come right over when you wake up on Monday!!!
PPBF bloggers please be sure to leave your post-specific link in the list below so we can all come visit you!
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 🙂
Susanna Leonard Hill 
A new pumpkin bread recipe – yay! I'm sorry Wednesday was a difficult day. Thank YOU for being such an inspiration and for being the mastermind behind our Friday picks and peeks. Your PPBF list is a such a gift!
Hi Susanna. No snow yet her in our village, but it is creeping down the Alps! The book sounds perfect for my seasons unit with the little ones! With baking ideas too! Will be on my shopping list!
Yaay…my first post!!! I worked it out!!😄
I love how the illustrator has captured the fall texture not just the colors on the cover! I love it when writers share the downs as well as up, I try and do that too on my FB page. So we know we are all in this together for the long haul!
mmmmmm. I love pumpkin! And a good pumpkin story is always fun to share! Thanks for sharing this one! Have fun in the snow!!
Well Susanna, I have not had a chance to read Wednesday's post but I agree with you about this writing community. It is one of the sweetest I have known. And as soon as I can I will look up the mentioned post.
We don't have snow and I Don't know how cold it got at four a.m. but now at eight thirty it is thirty two degrees. And the outdoor cats want to stay inside! 🙂
This book does sound just as sweet as our community. I am looking it up as we speak from our library and by Sunday I can read it. Thanks for sharing.
Hugs and kisses
Love love love,
Clar
Aw! This looks as sweet as it sounds in your recommendation! Our snow should start melting today…before it snows again tomorrow! Ha! The twists of Winter's humor!
Hahaha 🙂 You live in the wrong place for avoiding snow, Julie 🙂 Then again… so do I 🙂
It's 28 and snowy at my house, and my indoor dogs can't wait to get out in it! They LOVE the snow 🙂 I hope you enjoy this book, Clar, and stay warm and toasty!
Thanks, Rhythm, we will! Do you love snow as much as Scout and Jemma do? They think they were born for snow 🙂
I know – isn't it beautiful? She used a wash of instant coffee! And yes – it's good to know we have each other 🙂
Yay! 🙂
Golly! How can we have snow on Blueberry Hill when there's no snow yet in your Swiss village? That seems backwards 🙂 Hope you enjoy baking Something Pumpkin (which is almost as good, but not quite, as Something Chocolate :))
Aw, you're so sweet! Thanks, Barbara! I always love your picks, and your amazing activities! Enjoy the pumpkin bread 🙂
Ha, ha! I have to say your chocolate treat on Wednesday looked just yummy! I love pumpkin too though and confess that I make pumpkin bread (U.S. Recipe ) instead of Christmas pudding!! Shh not very English, I know!
We don't get much snow here so I don't have too many opportunities to enjoy it. 😦 But when it does come — I DO enjoy it!!!!!!
What a cute suggestion for PPBF 🙂 And I look forward to this exciting news. Have a wonderful weekend!
What happened???? I can see the comment section today and can sign in as a guest. It's been a long time. Yay! I love your book choice today — the illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and the story touching! And, the topic of pumpkins is perfect for people like me, who like to make all my homemade pumpkin for holiday pies.
Love the book, Susanna! There are so many 'on-the-edge and out-of-the-box' stories out there now, it's nice to savor a sweet one. 🙂 And sharing our joys and frustrations is one of the best parts of this incredible kidlit community.
No snow here. But a good book next to a warm fire still has merit. I love the illustrations of these sweet story.
We had our first flurries…that's about all my tropical soul can handle right now. 😀
Pumpkins are such magical plants for kids (literary and real life magic). Now that I'm old and jaded, I tell hubby not to grow them anymore since we don't currently have pigs to feed and we don't grow anything that is just for looks (only pie/sugar pumpkins are worth eating and I'd rather substitute sweet potatoes for every recipe that calls for pumpkins. I like the taste of sweet potatoes better and they are so much easier to deal with!
On the downside, if I ever wanted a fine, horse-drawn carriage, I will only have mice to turn into horses but no pumpkins to turn into a carriage itself. 😉
Well, now I can't sleep all weekend waiting for your exciting news on Monday…darn it, Susanna!
What a sweet book. The artwork looks amazing and the story lovely. Thanks for telling me about it.
This looks like a cute one. We had our first snow this week and it was interesting with school delays and below freezing temps. Today, it's up in the 30s.
Frost on the pumpkins here with light snow last night! Your selection is a cute-looking one, and maybe I could learn a few tips because when I try to grow them they rot or explode (really). It was brave of you to share your rejections–that's why we want to hug you.
This sounds truly bucolic! It doesn't really feel like fall where I am — so picture books like this will help improve the ambiance. I always enjoy your recommendations and I'm so glad I finally was able to join in this week.
I'm definitely looking forward to hearing about your news on Monday!
What a nice story to read alongside books about growing pumpkins! I also love the underlying theme about being kind and thinking of others–something I'm talking about a lot with my kindergartens these days.
It's wonderful being part of a writing community where we can share our ups and our downs.
Looks precious. Thanks, Susanna 🙂
We also got snow Thursday – flurries – a bit of accumulation Friday. Just took down my scarecrow that hangs by my front door and put up a couple snowmen. 🙂
Looking forward to Monday's announcement!!!
No snow here in southern Oregon, yet. There's barely frost on the pumpkin, which is unusual.
This looks like a fun fall read. Thanks for sharing, Susanna!
Thank you for the link party. And the book looks yummy–the recipe too.
Sorry I'm late. Snow here too. Sweet book pick! Love the art; Is that paint? It looks like batik!
Whoa – I can't believe it! DISQUS is allowing me to see the comments and posts once again! Not sure why but I am grateful to be back in their good graces. 🙂
Sorry I'm late. 😦 This book sounds awesome! We got our first snow around Friday too! 😀
What a sweet book about thoughtfulness and friendship. We don't have snow here, just a little rain. Please send more. 😀
I'm still waiting for the book about the guy who raises pumpkins in the shape of Frankenstein's head.
I think you better write that book, Jilanne! It has your name on it – or it will! 🙂
No worries, Erik! I've been awful about commenting over at your blog! Thank you for reading and commenting whenever you get around to it – I know how busy you are!
YAY! I don't know what happened, but YAY! I'm so glad you're here, Cathy 🙂
I think it's paint – but it has a wash of instant coffee over it – pretty cool!
Thank you for coming, Johnell 🙂 Hope you enjoy the book and the recipe 🙂
It's a sweet one, Cathy – I hope you like it! And it's supposed to be 18 degrees here tomorrow night… talk about frost on pumpkins! That's pretty cold for these parts in November!
I hope you like the book, Joanne – it's sweet. And where do you live again? i forgot… Enjoy your flurries, though, wherever you may be 🙂
I hope you get a chance to read this one, Andrea – it's very sweet. And I agree wholeheartedly about our writing community – it's lovely and we are lucky to have each other! 🙂
I don't know what happened with my blog today – apparently a few people who haven't been able to comment suddenly can – I'm so glad! I'm thrilled you're here, Tiffa, and hope you enjoy the book and the news on Monday 🙂
There is DEFINITELY a PB in exploding pumpkins, Wendy! I will be looking forward to reading it when you write it! 🙂 And thank you for the hugs – they are very helpful 🙂
Wow! School delays already! I hope not around here quite yet! Then again, you do live in a pretty snowy place, so I guess that's to be expected 🙂
I hope you get a chance to read it, Rosi. It's sweet and beautiful!
You can ride in a horse-drawn potato 🙂 Hahahaha! I'm picturing it now 🙂 I'm SO sorry that you won't get a wink of sleep all weekend, but, well, that WAS my evil plan… 🙂
A good book next to a warm fire is always a wonderful thing 🙂
I'm glad you agree, Vivian! I love the sweet ones 🙂 And you are right about out wonderful community!!! 🙂
YAY! I'm so happy! YAY! You, and Cathy, and a couple other people are all here today! Fingers crossed whatever got fixed stays fixed! Glad you like the book, Pat, and if you have any extra pie, I know where you can get rid of it… 🙂
Thanks, Angela 🙂