Too Many Pumpkins

November 1, 1996
K-Gr 3-Golden autumn hues cast their warm glow throughout this humorous harvest tale. Rebecca Estelle, having survived on various pumpkin dishes during her poor childhood, hates them so much that when a pumpkin accidentally falls into her yard, she shovels dirt over it so she won't have to see or think about it again. In spite of all her efforts to the contrary, she is "rewarded" with a yard full of bright orange globes the following fall. Not willing to let the windfall go to waste, she once again prepares the dishes she detested as a child, carves jack-o-lanterns from the remaining pile, and then thoroughly enjoys the fellowship of her neighbors lured by the glow of the mischievous carvings. And, of course, Rebecca Estelle saves seeds for next year's planting. Lloyd snuggles White's text into her rich watercolor-and-pen illustrations. Nature's determined bounty spills from formal borders and is tinged with just the right touch of realism to contrast with the cartoonlike Rebecca Estelle and her feline companion. The vocabulary and sentence structure calls for solid independent readers, but the large horizontal format packed with engaging fun makes this title an ideal harvest/Halloween read-aloud.-Claudia Cooper, Ft. Stockton Independent School District, TX

September 15, 1996
Ages 4^-7. Rebecca Estelle hates pumpkins. As a poor child, she ate them all the time. The last thing she wants to do is grow them; but a huge pumpkin falls off a truck, spilling its seeds, and the next fall, she has pumpkins. Lots of them. The fun comes in watching this sprightly woman deal with her orange nemesis. She decides she'd better bake, and so she does until her kitchen is packed with pumpkin pies, bread, puddings, muffins--then she has to get the goodies out of her house. She carves the rest of the pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns that light the way for the neighbors. Soon everything is gone except for a few pumpkin seeds, which Rebecca Estelle decides to plant after all. The story and art brim with life and laughter, just as the kitchen spills over with treats. Rebecca Estelle comes across as very real: cranky, generous, and willing to make the best of a bad situation. An excellent fall read-aloud. ((Reviewed Sept. 15, 1996))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1996, American Library Association.)