Good 6-Days-Until-Halloween-Morning-But-Only-2-Days-Until-Halloweensie-Morning, Darlings! (not that we’re counting down or anything! 🙂 )

I’m sure you were wondering, so let me just say that 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins are grown in the United States each year, and the Top 5 Pumpkin Producing States are (get ready!…and hold your breath to see if you live in one of them!) Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and California!

The Largest Pumpkin Ever weighed in at 1,502 pounds!!! on October 7, 2006, grown by Ron Wallace of Greene, Rhode Island, even though Rhode Island is not a Top 5 Pumpkin Growing State.

The Largest Pumpkin PIE Ever was baked in New Bremen, Ohio in 2010 and was 20 feet in diameter and weighed 3,699 pounds!  Here’s the recipe in case you need to whip up a little pie for your family 🙂  1,212 lbs of canned pumpkin, 2,796 eggs (233 dozen), 109 gallons of evaporated milk, 525 pounds of sugar, 7 pounds of salt and 14.5 pounds of cinnamon!!!

The Most-Lit-Jack-O–Lanterns-On-Display were at Let It Shine in New Hampshire (which also didn’t make the Top 5 List yet still manages to hold up its little pumpkiny head 🙂 ) with 30,581 on October 19, 2013.

So!  Have I given you all a picture book story starter for the day?  Maybe a little inspiration for Halloweensie?! 🙂

Before you’re off and writing, have a snack and give your two cents on today’s Would You Read It 🙂

Since Halloween is almost upon us, for today’s Something Chocolate I have something really fun!  Kid-Friendly Easy Halloween Pops – Spider, Skeleton, Frankenstein, and Monster!  (Made out of Oreos – YUM!)

Kid-Friendly Easy Halloween Pops

Full printable recipes and video tutorial HERE on Chelsea’s Messy Apron

Have fun munching on those! (and also making them with your kids! 🙂 )

Now then, onto today’s pitch which comes to us from Laura who says, “I’m a reading specialist and environmental educator who lived in Chicago, IL until moving to the Rocky Mountains in 2016. I can be followed (are you following me?) @ljrwritenow on Twitter and my blog is APictureASongALiteraryquote.wordpress.com where I write about a variety of things that inspire me including nature, dogs, being a Cubs fan, my adventures in travel and gardening, and my writing.” [Please note that Laura once lived in a Top 5 Pumpkin Producing State but left of her own free will 🙂 ]

Here is her pitch:

Working Title: Gus’s Big Idea

Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 4-9)

The Pitch:  What happens one morning when Gus tells his big sister Aliana that he wants to be in charge for the day? Using his imagination, he and Aliana find magic in the clouds near their Rocky Mountain home. When they tell Mom about it, she helps them create a cloud at home. Easy to follow hands on science project included.

This book is part of a series highlighting a kickass girl who uses creativity and curiosity about science to teach her brother, test her parents’ patience and make the world a better place.

So what do you think?  Would You Read It?  YES, MAYBE or NO?

If your answer is YES, please feel free to tell us what you particularly liked and why the pitch piqued your interest.  If your answer is MAYBE or NO, please feel free to tell us what you think could be better in the spirit of helping Laura improve her pitch.  Helpful examples of possible alternate wordings are welcome.  (However I must ask that comments be constructive and respectful.  I reserve the right not to publish comments that are mean because that is not what this is about.)

Please send YOUR pitches for the coming weeks!  For rules and where to submit, click on this link Would You Read It or on Would You Read it in the dropdown under For Writers in the bar above.  At this point, we’re looking into January for new pitches, so you have a little time to polish your pitch before putting it up for helpful feedback and a chance to have it read and commented on by editor Erin Molta! But reserve your space now – they go like hotcakes at the start of the new writing year! 🙂

Laura is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!  I am looking forward to Book Club tonight!  Our book for the month was A Man Called Ove (which, if you’re wondering, is pronounce ooh-va – who’d a thought?!) and as of the writing of this post I haven’t quite finished it but I have to say I really like it!  The writer has a real way with language and humor, and is a master at evoking an emotional response as you read.  I recommend it (with the warning that you may have to soldier through the beginning a little but it’s worth it! 🙂 )