Too Many Pumpkins

by Linda White, Megan Lloyd (Illustrator)

What can you do with too many pumpkins?

Rebecca Estelle has hated pumpkins ever since she was a girl when pumpkins were often the only food her family had. When an enormous pumpkin falls off a truck and smashes in her yard, she shovels dirt over the pieces and forgets about them. But those slimy pumpkin smithereens sprout up in autumn, and Rebecca Estelle finds a sea of pumpkins in her garden. 

A heartwarming classic for more than twenty years, this story shows what happens when one thrifty gardener figures out how to make other people happy with the squash she can't stomach.

Filled with colorful illustrations from a season of gardening, this is a perfect book for young gardeners and pumpkin lovers. Its wonderful lesson about helping others can be appreciated in the classroom or at home.

Genres: Picture Books, Halloween, Childrens, Fiction, Holiday, Food, Kids

32 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1993

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 5 out of 5]

We meet Rebecca who loves to garden. She grows a little of everything accept pumpkins; she hates pumpkins. (How dare she.) One day a pumpkin truck driving by has a pumpkin role off the truck. Well, Rebecca hates them so much she doesn’t want to touch them. So she buries it. The next spring vines begin to come up and she hacks it to pieces once and then she simply ignores it.

I do like the story in how the pumpkins become something that Rebecca loves and they bring community together. I thought this was a fantastic story. It really was. Any story with pumpkins starts out in the plus column for me.

The nephew didn’t think this was as good as I did. There were no monsters, blah blah. He didn’t relate to the old lady and he didn’t care. What does snot nose know anyway. haha, just kidding. Yeah, he didn’t like it and he gave this 1 star. I tickled him for a good 30 seconds after he said that - the little stinker. He still didn’t change his rating.

[Tina Loves To Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a children's book. I read this book to my twin boys today. I cannot believe I never read it before today. Rebecca the main character of this book loves to garden, but she hated pumpkins because she had to eat only pumpkins when she was poor. Of course one day she finds her whole front yard is covered in pumpkins. She learns that the bad thing will turn into a great thing. I loved that pumpkins can bring so much joy to so many people. The pictures are so cute. I loved this book so much. (*)

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute! Tells of an elderly lady who lived through the Great Depression when all her family had to eat were pumpkins and she thus grew up despising pumpkins. The majority of the story focuses on how a pumpkin patch ended up sprouting in her front yard and she kept trying to ignore it but soon there were TOO MANY PUMPKINS! How she deals with the "problem" is festive and sweet! :-> And her kitty side-kick is adorable.

[Melki · Rating 5 out of 5]

An abundance of squash leads to a whole new world of possibility for an elderly loner.

Probably my favorite Halloween book - just wonderful!

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a terrific picture book with wonderful illustrations and a touching story.

The story is about an old woman named Rebecca Estelle who had been so poor as a child that for one entire month all she’d had to eat was pumpkins, and now she avoids them at all costs until… She’s overwhelmed with pumpkins. How this happens and how she ends up handling the situation is heartwarming and funny.

Her cat Esmerelda is a wonderful character too.

This would make a really fun read aloud book. I especially like how on multiple pages the last word on the page is: “until…”, getting the reader/listener eager for what’s going to happen on the next page.

I think pumpkins in all forms are delicious so this book managed to make me hungry for pumpkins.

[Annie ⚜️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Delightful story and message.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Forced to eat nothing but pumpkin as a child, during the Great Depression, Rebecca Estelle grew up to hate the gourd-like squash, refusing to grow it in her garden, or eat any dish in which it featured as an ingredient. But when a pumpkin fell off the back of a truck, and the seeds (which she determinedly ignored) took root in her front yard, Rebecca Estelle found that she truly did have too many pumpkins! What could a pumpkin hater do, when her front yard was taken over by the hated vegetable...?

Although I enjoyed Linda White's gentle tale of learning to appreciate a food that was previously hated, it is Megan Lloyd's appealing illustrations which really made Too Many Pumpkins for me! The vivid fall colors, and the endearingly expressive depictions of Rebecca Estelle and her cat companion, Esmerelda, make the tale come alive. I don't know that this will make any of my "favorites" lists, but it is a very engaging autumn story, and can be enjoyed as such, by all young readers who love the season.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very wordy. I usually flip a couple pages in the library before checking them out, but either I didn't for this book, or I happened to only see the few pages that had less words. It was a bit long for my 13 month old to sit through, but sometimes I like the longer books at bedtime.

It was a cute story about a lady who hates pumpkins and then ends up with thousands of them in her garden. It was acute enough and the illustrations were nice. The pumpkin pages were a lot of fun. Overall a decent book - just wordy - so make sure you plan a couple extra minutes for story time.

[Crystal Marcos · Rating 4 out of 5]

My library finally got in a copy of Too Many Pumpkins. This is another winner with my daughter who just adores pumpkins after learning about them this past Halloween. A wonderful read aloud story! This story is about a little old lady named Rebecca Estelle who ate way too many pumpkins as a child because her family was very poor. They ate pumpkins any way you could imagine and now she can’t stand the site of them.

One day a truck loaded with pumpkins drove by and one luscious pumpkin fell off splattering into her yard. Well naturally, Rebecca Estelle wasn’t happy about it and tried all different ways to get rid of it and even tried ignoring it. Until one day the pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin had made a vast sea of pumpkins throughout her yard. Her creative ways of getting rid of the pumpkins were just delightful and keeping a small batch of seeds for next year was quite touching.

This book was a recommendation to me and I thank the recommender!

[Danette · Rating 4 out of 5]

My girls love to read this one each fall.

3/21/17 Read with Naomi & Julia.
10/23/17 Read with Naomi & Julia.
10/24/19 Read with Naomi and Julia.
11/23/19 Read with Julia.
9/27/20 Read with Julia
11/18/21 Read with Julia
10/18/22 Read with Julia and Charlotte
9/18/23 Read with Skylar
9/24/24 Read with Andres and Skylar
11/13/24 Read with Skylar
10/21/25 Read with Skylar

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected this to be better. I thought the author went too far with the hatred of pumpkins. I didn't even like the use of the word hate, because I thought that was too strong. I understand that as a girl, Rebecca had had to eat nothing but pumpkins there for a while and she was heartily sick of them. If she's thoroughly sick of them and never wants to eat them or see them again, that's fine, but the hatred and the lengths she went to were too much.

Her cat was playing in the leaves and she picked it up and carried it away, wouldn't let her even play in them. The cat had a startled expression and it's tail was between its legs. I felt bad for it! What ruined it even further and went too far was when, after she tore the vines up, they grew back and she resolved to close her blinds and never look out them again all spring and summer. So that's 6 months, half the year, where she wouldn't even look out a window. She only used her back door. That's insane.

Next, the pumpkins grew all up in her front yard, over and under everything. They were on her porch, birdbath, hammock, on the railing and even in her tree. It was crazy. Idk about growing pumpkins, but I highly doubted that they would spread from where they had grown at the edge of her front yard to encompass her entire front yard, especially after she had dug up the vines. I didn't buy it.

It did get better when she had the idea of what to do with all of them. She remembered all the pumpkin meals her family had had and she wanted to give them away. But she was too tired to bring them to people, so she decided to make pies. I liked where it was heading and was glad the pumpkin hate was over with. She went in her kitchen and made all kinds of pumpkin treats. When she was done she didn't want to deliver them, but wanted people to come to her. So then she carved up the rest of the pumpkins into all kinds of faces (I enjoyed looking at all of the different expressions on the pumpkins) for people to see.

It was nice that she made apple cider when she saw the cars coming, and gave everyone a pumpkin food to take home, seeds to roast, and a jack o'lantern.

I did like the way the author dragged the lines out, like "And she didn't, until..." and then you flip the page and it picked up with "...one autumn day long after Rebecca Estelle's hair had turned snowy white."
"She managed to ignore the truck, until..."
She said she wouldn't think about the fallen pumpkin. "And she didn't, until..." "...spring when Rebecca Estelle was admiring the new sprouts in her garden."
"Rebecca Estelle ignored the vines so well that, in time she forgot why she wasn't using the front door, until... one autumn day, when she and Esmeralda went to rake the leaves that fell each fall from the black walnut tree in front of the house."

It was amusing because you knew something was going to happen next and it built up a nice sense of anticipation.

It ended abruptly, with her left with some seeds that she was going to plant next year. It was a positive note at least that her bad relationship with pumpkins was over and that she'd be doing this every year. I wish it had a more conclusive ending, Idk what, but it just ended so fast. It was over so quickly.

The author shared that she has an aunt Becky who inspired this story, because she'd grown up in the Depression and had to eat nothing but pumpkins so this was for her, with a good ending. That gave the book a special touch.

[Evelyn Saenz · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the story Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White Rebecca grew up eating so much pumpkin that she never wanted to even see pumpkins again in her life.

One year by accident a pumpkin drops off a truck, the seeds plant themselves and a whole pumpkin patch grows in her yard. Being frugal she must use all the pumpkins so she makes breads, pies, soups and Jack O'Lanterns for all the neighbors.

Not only is this a fun story to read but a wonderful accompaniment to a class learning place value while counting pumpkin seeds.

We used page protectors to cover some of the pages in the book and then used dry erase markers to circle groups of 10 pumpkins to find out how many pumpkins were on each page.

[Kelsey Scherer · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent story book to teach children about problem solving. Poor little Rebecca was made to eat pumpkins for so long because of a food scarcity and once it's over, she vows to never eat another pumpkin. Sadly, a shipment of pumpkins is accidently dropped into her yard so she tries to cover them but eventually they begin to sprout and grow. Rebecca comes up with an excellent solution; she has a celebration and shares her "pumpkin wealth" with others! Full of beautiful illustrations as well.

[Brenna Nikalee · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kid checked this book out from the school library. I read it to her. Her dad read it to her. We both read it to her again. And again. For a week. She lost it in her bedroom, until she was threatened with having to pay to replace, then it magically appeared from under her bed. We read it 3 more times.

I'm fairly sure we've now read this book at least as many times as Rebecca Estelle ate pumpkin during that month of "hard times" talked about in the book, and I'd still read it again if my kid renewed it and brought it back home.

[Stephanie Croaning · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a lovely story about a woman who turns a smooshed pumpkin into a community celebration. There are several nice illustrations that garner "Oooohs" as you turn the page. Children love to see how Rebecca Estelle's attitude towards pumpkins changes and they can have good discussions predicting what she will do next.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids love this book. It has literally fallen apart from being read a looked at so much. A fun Halloween story.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I added this to my to-read shelf two years ago, and almost read it to the day two years later. It's one day short of being exactly two years, so that was pretty crazy. My town had its Fall Festival today, so I wanted to start getting in the fall/Halloween mood.

I liked the way the story was written with the lines leading to the next thing, like: 'Rebecca Estelle decided she would never eat pumpkins again. Or even look at one. Not ever. And she didn't, until...' and then it goes to autumn when the pumpkin lands in her yard.
And when she said she wouldn't touch, look, or think about the pumpkin, 'and she didn't, until...' the spring when she saw her cat playing with the leaves.
I loved when she told the cat "Come out of there, Esmeralda." She didn't even want her cat near them she hated them so much!

She cuts and digs up the vines, thinking that'll take care of it, but the pumpkins still grow. So she decides to ignore them, thinking they wouldn't grow if she didn't take care of them. I did think this was a tad naive for someone who gardens, but I guess her disgust made her not wanna deal with them at all and just hope they'd go away. She never looked out the window, and it was funny that the cat didn't either, as if out of solidarity with her owner. She used the back door and never looked at the vines. In the drawing, you can see the shades drawn and the door blocked off with a bunch of boxes.
This was funny to me too: 'Rebecca Estelle ignored the vines so well that, in time she forgot why she wasn't using the front door.'

The page with the pumpkins growing all through her front yard, onto the porch, in the tree, over the birdbath was too dramatic. Pumpkins wouldn't grow all over like that. I know it's probably meant to make kids laugh who look at the illustrations, but I wish it was more realistic.

I really liked how she thought of the time her family didn't have money, and only ate pumpkins for every meal, and decides to give them away, because some folks were crazy enough to like them. She goes to wheelbarrow them to deliver to people, but they're too heavy. She decides to make them into food so they're easier to carry.
Her kitchen overflows with all kinds of pumpkin treats, making it look like she has a home bakery. You can guess that her parent's house probably looked like that when she was a girl.
The reader knows that the minute she decides to cook, it's curing her hatred of pumpkins, and she's doing exactly what she swore she'd never do. But Rebecca herself doesn't know this yet.

Instead of delivering them herself, she wants customers to come to her. She carves a couple jack-o-lanterns and a pumpkin that spells Boo to draw them in. She ends up having dozens glowing in her yard. I wondered how lighting jack-o'-lanterns tells people you have pumpkins for sale. That would look like you're just decorating your yard, not that you're selling anything. You'd have to actually put a sign up. She soon sees headlights coming up the road, and makes some apple cider. Everyone from town came to see the jack-o'-lanterns because they knew Rebecca hated pumpkins and they wanted to take a closer look.
When asked how she found them, she says she got them by accident, and winked at Esmeralda, as if she was a person and in on the joke.

I thought she was going to sell everything she made, but she ended up just giving it away, which I thought was really generous. She sent everyone home with a jack-o'-lantern, seeds for roasting, and a pumpkin treat.

There's one last 'until...' with her giving away everything that reminded her of the pumpkins she always hated until she only had a handful of seeds left. Which she saved to plant in the spring.
I thought this ending was cute, but I wish it had been longer, and not so abrupt.
Also I would have liked to have seen a gradual change in her, from hating pumpkins, making food out of them and decorating them, only to give away to people, to then finding enjoyment out of them and realizing she didn't hate them. The change was too sudden. It left me wondering when exactly her feelings started to soften toward the pumpkins.

I liked the illustrations, and the comedic addition to them; the horror on her face when she sees the smashed pumpkin in her yard, her angry face as she covers the pumpkin with dirt, the look on the cat's face as she carried her from the pumpkin vines. Her expression as she ignored the pumpkins for months and then goes to the yard to rake leaves only to find her yard full of pumpkins.

From the beginning, you knew what was coming next, and I liked the foreshadowing of what was to come. You knew that despite the fact she didn't want to touch, look or think about pumpkins, you knew she would exactly that. And her vow never to cook with them. She ended up doing everything she hated with the pumpkins, and coming around in the end.

I really liked how at the end, I learned that the author was inspired from her aunt, who grew up during the Depression, and because money was scarce there were many times all her family had to eat were pumpkins. It's always nice finding out a story is based on a true story, or inspired from someone the author knows.

I planned to read this first out of the Halloween books I have, because I thought I would like it least out of the others, but this ended up being pretty good. A good, cute story of a woman coming around to something she's hated for years, and finding the spirit of generosity at the end, and making the best of a bad situation.

[Nicole D'Ambrosio Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son and I really enjoyed this book!

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White was one of my wishlist books, and a rare picture book to have made it on the list. I typically only add longer books to the list. The how and why of this book being on the list is beyond my memory, but I'm glad it was.

The book opens with Rebecca Estelle gardening and watching with disdain as the pumpkin truck rumbles by. She detests pumpkins from her childhood where for a month she and her family had been forced to eating nothing but pumpkin dishes when money was tight. Things go amiss when a large pumpkin rolls off the truck and smashes to pieces at the side of Rebecca's yard.

My children and I know from experience just how easily pumpkins can grow. We had one take root in our composter one year and spread pumpkin vines all over our balcony garden. We even got a couple tiny pumpkins for all its effort.

So immediately both kids could guess where the story was going. Rebecca Estelle having a nice yard and garden has unwittingly provided the perfect place for a wayward pumpkin to take root. Everything she does to avoid having pumpkins grow in her yard only makes things "worse."

In the end Rebecca Estelle learns to come to terms with pumpkins, though she still doesn't want to eat them. They do, however, provide a way for her to reconnect with her community.

The illustrations that accompany the story are wonderful and take the "too many" to its logical extremes. There are pumpkins in a rocking chair, on the porch, and in all sorts of other unusual places. It's worth stopping to take it all in and to talk about all the places pumpkins could end up growing.

[babyhippoface · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebecca Estelle has hated pumpkins ever since she was a child and was forced to eat nothing but pumpkins for an entire month when food was scarce. She vowed she would never eat another pumpkin. She wouldn't even look at a pumpkin!

When the pumpkin truck rumbles by and a pumpkin rolls off and smashes on the edge of Rebecca Estelle's yard, she is disgusted and covers up the slimy mess with a pile of dirt. She doesn't even want to look at it! Imagine her surprise come next fall, when an enormous pumpkin patch grows on the edge of her yard. What in the world is she going to do with all these pumpkins???

Her solution is fabulous. Makes me want to grow an accidental giant pumpkin patch myself. (Somebody else will have to do the cooking, though.)

I was pleasantly surprised by this little story and enjoyed reading it to classes. Every lower grade works a unit on pumpkins, and this is one of the better pumpkin stories I've come across. The idea of a huge patch of beautiful, orange, round pumpkins growing "by accident" charmed me completely, and kids are kinda fascinated by it, too. What a cool place that would be to play, huh?

I read this along with the perfect companion book, Pat Zietlow Miller's new book Sophie's Squash.

[Luann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was drawn to this one because of the illustrations by Megan Lloyd. She illustrated one of my all-time favorite read-aloud books at Halloweeen, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams. So of course I wanted to read this one as well. This isn't the same as "Little Old Lady," but with the familiar Megan Lloyd illustrations it feels like it could be set in the same neighborhood.

This might be a touch too long to easily read aloud in a library storytime, but my young nephew was visiting while I still had this from the library so I read it to him. He enjoyed it a lot and I enjoyed sharing it with him. It was a wonderful read-aloud in that setting. I love the solution to the problem of "too many pumpkins," and I love that the story is based on experiences of the author's aunt Becky.

[Set · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is not about the fall holidays such as Thanksgiving or Halloween. Instead, the story is oddly about a lady that lived during the great depression as a child when she was forced to eat pumpkins because of the financial situation of her family during the time. She ate so many pumpkins that she swore them off for good. I don't understand why her cat is named Esmeralda if she doesn't have green eyes... But the color spectrum of the illustrations are very autumn and the pumpkins make up for the lack of holiday storytelling. The story is about childhood nostalgia, family remembrance even in difficult times and bringing people together for harvest celebration.

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

During this time of year, it seems that there are pumpkin flavored items everywhere you look: coffee, cereal, pastries, and even pumpkin-scented hand soap. Rebecca Estelle had more than her share of pumpkins when she was young. Her family was poor, and all they had to eat was pumpkin. As she got older, pumpkins were an unpleasant reminder of her past. So she avoided pumpkins. Until an accident left her with a bumper crop of them. She had to find a way to get rid of them, and so she found a tasty way to do that and share with all of her friends in the process. This book has terrific message of sharing and friendship that will make this a good book to have as part of a seasonal collection in a classroom library. It'll also make you hungry for pumpkin treats!

[Julie Hedlund · Rating 5 out of 5]

We love this book in our family. We've had it since before my son was born (he's now 5). My daughter is 8, and every fall we take this one out and read in dozens of times. It's a timeless story with an ending so satisfying that we always sigh after we finish it.

[Virginia Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this too many times to count. It's just one of those books that you can't help but revisit. Especially during the fall season. This is just a fun read-aloud with amazing illustrations and a satisfying ending. Highly recommend!

[Cathy aka The Attached Mama · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been a "yearly" favorite in our house. It is a great story on the life cycle of a pumpkin with the added benefit of teaching generosity.

[Bridget Neace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another annual holiday read that I've enjoyed for many years. :)

[Juli Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lloyd's illustrations are a treat.

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes the things we think hate are actually the things that can bring us great joy!

Cute story.

[Christabelle]

This one was really cute! This might become a yearly tradition.