George Levenson (1944–2007)

This is a straight-up fantastic read-aloud. It is so difficult to find great nonfiction read-alouds for storytime, but the rhyming and pictures were absolutely sublime. The preschool kids that I read this to were engaged and learned a lot about pumpkins (and their parents wanted to go home and plant some). Definitely recommend to storytime librarians and teachers to read aloud during the fall season and to parents looking for great informational texts to read to/with their kids.

This beautifully poetic book is a really great way to enjoy learning about gardening. It will really get the kids (and parents) psyched for Fall! The only thing, is at the very end, there is a couple of line that could be interpreted as Pagan. If that's a problem though, it is something that could be very easily glossed over.

I liked this book for three reasons. First, I liked the illustrations. They were actual photo images of the pumpkins. This helped to accompany the text because it was informational and the photos added details to the writing. Second, I liked the way the writing was organized. It began explaining the seed and went through all of the cycles of the pumpkin, ending with the seeds again to show the reader the full circle and that the growth of pumpkins happen in a continuous cycle. Third, I like show more the language. The author used more formal and technical language to explain the pumpkins because it was an informational text. However, the author still wrote in a way that made the pumpkin cycle seem exciting and engaging to readers. The theme of this book was the cycle of growth of pumpkins. show less

This book made me want to make bread, buy bread, and eat bread! With detailed photograph illustrations, the book takes the reader through the process of making bread, starting with the seed. This will be a great book to share with my English Language Development class as we are learning about where food comes from.