MommaReads

If your kids like a mystery, then they will enjoy helping Albert and the gang solve riddles that lead them to the missing pumpkins.

Littlebat and his mother live in the rafters of a library. He would also like to get a closer look at the pictures in the books that are being read to the children, but his mother has warned him that it is not safe for him to go to storytime. One day Littlebat leans a little too far out of his protective hiding place and falls right into storytime. You can imagine how well that went over! He does manage to fly back to safety and his mother tells him that there is one time of year that it might be safe for him to listen to storytime. He waits all through the spring and through the summer until fall arrives when he manages to make himself part of the decorations.

Mr. Tiffin’s class has three pumpkins-a small one, a medium one and a large one-and they are going to count how many seeds are in each pumpkin. First they get to makes estimates and then they get to count. There is a group counting by two’s, another group counting by five’s and another group counting by ten’s. As we were reading this book at our house we learned that the number of lines on a pumpkin can give you an indication as to how many seeds it has compared to another pumpkin…more lines=more seeds.

This book discusses many aspects of fall in an almost poetic tone-the language is beautiful and very descriptive. Falling leaves, raking, hibernating insects, colder air and warmer clothes, shorter days, pumpkins and planting bulbs are all discussed in this book. There is also a fun section in the back that includes fun fall nature crafts to do with your kiddos.

Clayton and Desmond fall in love with the same pumpkin. They water it, fertilize it and even give it sugar water to help it grow faster. The problem is that they are both watering it, fertilizing it and giving it sugar water…neither one of them knows that the other exists because they both come to the pumpkin at different times during the day. Well, with this much love and care the pumpkin starts to grow into a VERY large pumpkin. They do both end up meeting each other one night when they both come to cover up the pumpkin to protect it against frost and they come up with a very clever way to share their pumpkin.

Poor Jeb’s pumpkin patch is going to get ambushed by a bunch of crows right before Halloween. He comes up with a very clever plan to save his pumpkin patch and there is a little twist at the end, too.
Very cute.