Fall Pumpkins: Orange and Plump

Cloverleaf Books ™ - Fall's Here!

by Martha E.H. Rustad, Amanda Enright

It's time for a trip to the pumpkin patch! Find out how pumpkins grow. See the many things we do with pumpkins. Let's carve a jack-o'-lantern. Spooky! What happens in fall? Find out in the Fall's Here! series, part of the Cloverleaf Books™ collection. These nonfiction picture books feature kid-friendly text and illustrations to make learning fun!

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Nonfiction, School, Science, Halloween, Storytime

24 pages, Library Binding

First published September 1, 2011

About the author

Martha E. H. Rustad is the author of more than one hundred nonfiction children's books, on topics ranging from snowflakes to termites to Ancient Babylon. She lives with her family in Brainerd, Minnesota.

Reviews

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's a wonderful little book for children of all ages, really. With colorful pages and little friends that carry a child through the story of a seedling to the yummy treats of roasted pumpkin seeds, a child will love and appreciate this book. And, parents will like the bubbled notes accompaning that give how tos from everything on planting to pie-making, as well.

The simple illustrations on planting and caring for pumpkins couldn't be easier for children to follow, which is a feature making this book a treasure. So many children love to garden and this is a way to simplify that process and to give them a BIG reward in the long run. My grands love to garden.

I like that the size is appropriate for little hands and young readers!

My only hesitation is the book may offer too many instructions and not enough of a funny story for children. But, when all is said and done, not every book needs to be fun and games, sometimes children want a serious book that's great in pictures and gives them a "how-to" just like adults do.

4 pumpkin bloosoms

Grams/Deborah/TheBookishDame

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for kids. It shows how pumpkins grow and things you can make with them.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fall is here with it’s brightly colored leaves, golden and red and brown but one of the best things about Fall are the pumpkins. From the very small to the largest weighing nearly as large as a cow. Pumpkins bring the season to life and make the first holiday of the season one to remember.

Say what you will, but next to the colors during this spectacular time of year, pumpkins are one of its most defining features. From Halloween to Thanksgiving and then Christmas pumpkins make an appearance in ever way imaginable. So what better than a children’s book all about these plentiful veggies?

What was a treat for our family was that it wasn’t only appealing to one kiddo, but both because of it’s varied platform. Portions of the book were fictional with characters and a story that Littlebug could get excited over, especially with the brightly colored illustrations. The aspect that appealed most to the Turkeybird were the non-fiction elements about planting pumpkins, watching them grow and then the how-to’s of using the fully ripe pumpkin. As the Turkeybird gets older I see his interests veer toward more non-fiction, but he still enjoys a great picture book and it was nice to have this blend with Fall Pumpkins.

Overall Fall Pumpkins by Martha E. H. Rustad was an enjoyable read that appeals to both fiction and non-fiction loving kiddos. Filled with adorable illustrations with the bright colors of Fall and diverse characters this will no doubt be a draw to young readers everywhere. Share the wonders of a staple of the Fall season, the pumpkin, with young readers and help them understand not only how pumpkins grow but what to do with them beyond carving faces into their shells. An adorable teaching picture book perfect for the Fall season at home or in school.

Originally reviewed and copyrighted at my site There's A Book.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fall is here with it’s brightly colored leaves, golden and red and brown but one of the best things about Fall are the pumpkins. From the very small to the largest weighing nearly as large as a cow. Pumpkins bring the season to life and make the first holiday of the season one to remember.

Say what you will, but next to the colors during this spectacular time of year, pumpkins are one of its most defining features. From Halloween to Thanksgiving and then Christmas pumpkins make an appearance in ever way imaginable. So what better than a children’s book all about these plentiful veggies?

What was a treat for our family was that it wasn’t only appealing to one kiddo, but both because of it’s varied platform. Portions of the book were fictional with characters and a story that my two year old daughter could get excited over, especially with the brightly colored illustrations. The aspect that appealed most to my son were the non-fiction elements about planting pumpkins, watching them grow and then the how-to’s of using the fully ripe pumpkin. As he gets older I see his interests veer toward more non-fiction, but he still enjoys a great picture book and it was nice to have this blend with Fall Pumpkins.

Overall Fall Pumpkins by Martha E. H. Rustad was an enjoyable read that appeals to both fiction and non-fiction loving kiddos. Filled with adorable illustrations with the bright colors of Fall and diverse characters this will no doubt be a draw to young readers everywhere. Share the wonders of a staple of the Fall season, the pumpkin, with young readers and help them understand not only how pumpkins grow but what to do with them beyond carving faces into their shells. An adorable teaching picture book perfect for the Fall season at home or in school.

My original review was posted at There's A Book.

[Bea · Rating 3 out of 5]

NOTE: This review first appeared at my personal blog.

“Fall Pumpkins” is a new book, released in September by Lerner Publishing Group, via their Millbrook Press imprint and is part of their “Cloverleaf Books: Fall’s Here!” collection. I got an eARC from NetGalley. I did not receive any compensation for this review.

The marketing copy for the book describes it thus: “It’s time for a trip to the pumpkin patch! Find out how pumpkins grow. See the many things we do with pumpkins. Let’s carve a jack-o’-lantern. Spooky! What happens in fall? Find out in the Fall’s Here! series, part of the Cloverleaf Books™ collection. These nonfiction picture books feature kid-friendly text and illustrations to make learning fun!”

I had trouble pinning down the intended age group for this book. The art seems aimed at pre-schoolers while the text is a mix. The vocabulary and concepts are kindergarten and first grade while the tone is simplistic and occasionally patronizing. I think it would work for most pre-schoolers on up to first grade, though the older kids may find that it’s not substantial enough for them.

The concepts are explained simply and clearly, with extra details on the side of the page on a leaf. The information presented there briefly explains on the concepts presented in the main narrative of the page.

The art is ordinary but pleasant. One thing that I did like is that the characters in the book are African-American, or possibly Hispanic, the art was a little vague. Their ethnicity is irrelevant to the story, it’s just a given. The focus is on pumpkins, not the characters. Often, books about the seasons or holidays portray Caucasian families, even when it makes no difference to the story and other ethnicities would work just as well.

It’s okay, but there are better books for exploring pumpkins with young children.

[Kristel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This picture book all about pumpkins is charming and informative. Martha Rustad takes readers through the entire growth cycle of pumpkins, from planting the seeds to harvest time. The book shows children some of the different uses for pumpkins as well as providing fun facts along the way about the biggest pumpkins or which pumpkins have less seeds inside. Viewing it as E-Book, it had no interactive features but the colors were quite vivid on the screen. The illustrations are very alluring and crisply created with strong outlined images. The young boy growing the pumpkin has cocoa-colored skin which provides a beautiful contrast the dominant bold greens and oranges. Fanciful readers may draw parallels between the shape of the little boy's head and the shape of his pumpkin (flashback to It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! film). The seasons are also displayed in this book, except for winter--but it is mentioned. Children will find this book entertaining, not a boring textbook, because they are following the story of a young boy who is growing a pumpkin patch, not simply reading a how-to manual. Complex vocabulary words such as delicious or tendril are explained in a glossary at the back of the book, which also includes a list of other resources for learning about pumpkins and a roasted pumpkin seeds recipe that encourages children to bake with their parents. A great resource for public libraries that can purchase the e-book version or the library binding.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a number of things that make this series very good for both educational purposes and pleasure reading. First, the design is attractive and easy to follow. The organization works especially well for a teacher who wishes to cover certain aspects of fall in an orderly manner. I also appreciated the use of a table of contents, glossary, index, and additional resources. Each book also contains an activity that goes along with the information covered in each book. The second thing I like is the friendly and appealing illustrations. The illustrations are very child friendly. I also enjoyed the text which is simple enough for younger readers, but also includes side notes for readers who want more information. The text is written as a narrative which makes for a good read a loud. I highly recommend this series for all those that want to learn more about fall. I liked the fact that I learned some things from these books that I did not know previously. For example, I did not realize that when apple seeds are planted the apples they produce are not the same variety of apple as the seed that was planted. Lots of interesting things to learn in these books.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received a review copy. I have been looking for some good fall time children's books to read to my son. So I was happy to be able to review this book. The book tells the life cycle of pumpkins from being planted all the way to being harvested and eaten.

The illustrations are wonderfully done. With beautiful colors that represent all the different seasons. It was not too overly wordy so my 4 year old did not lose interest but at the same time it gave some great information to him on how pumpkins grow. He asked me to read it to him 3 times! There is even a recipe in there for roasted pumpkin seeds. Yum!

I asked my son whether he liked the book and he said "yeah I do. It was good book". The book is perfect for the fall. It is not focused on Halloween but rather on the pumpkins themselves. I loved the drawings and I loved that my son was so interested in it. So if you are looking for a good fall book that you can read to your child beyond Halloween I would highly recommend this book. Good for children who are very young or with short attention spans. Educational yet fun.

[Novel Obsession · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martha E.H. Rustad's Fall Pumpkins is a cute fall story about the life cycle of a pumpkin. With cute illustrations, the book will appeal to preschool and very early elementary kids.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute art.

[Constance Thurman · Rating 4 out of 5]

" Fall Pumpkins: Orange and Plump (Falls Here)!" This book is about a boy and his family planting pumpkin seeds. The Dialogue lines are short and straight to the point. Look! Buzz! tHE Illustration show a boy with big bright eyes looking down picking up and oarange pumpkin. There are green vines green grass trees and green leaves. The Words sre bold and full of yellow and orange color verey vivd images. This book is a great read it very educational and yet fun children get to learn about how pumpkins grow and thrive. There a secrect ending.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great read for my 3rd grader. She was able to handle most of the words and she is learning about the plant life cycle in school so this book pairs with that really well. It also has bonus material such as recipes and they learn about how to plant pumpkins throughout the book. Overall this book was a great hit and covered a lot of material at an appropriate reading and learning level.

[Zen Nana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lerner Publishing has come out with a line of picture books on environmental themes. Called Cloverleaf Books' Planet Protectors, these delightful and informative new books teach and entertain with simple language and adorable illustrations. I have read two of them -- Watch Over Our Water written by Lisa Bullard and illustrated by Xiao Xin, and Fall Pumpkins: Orange and Plump written by Martha E. H. Rustard and illustrated by Amanda Enright. Little characters Tyler and Trina learn everything from conserving water and energy to growing a pumpkin from seed and then toasting the new seeds. This series is so great I have to recommend it highly for a ranges of young children who will love the topics, the simple but interesting text, and the bright happy pictures of Tyler and Trina learning to reduce, reuse and recycle. Great new picture book series!

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautifully illustrated educational book teaches your children all about pumpkins. From how to grown a pumpkin, to how to carve them, this book covers it all. Parents, you might also be surprised to learn a thing or two as you delve into all the pumpkin related facts. (I had no idea there were blue pumpkins!) The illustrations are adorable, and my four year old was just as absorbed as my 9 and 10 year old were. This would make a great addition to a homeschooling reading list, especially in the fall. There are other titles available in this series, including Fall Harvests, Fall Apples, and Animals in the Fall. You can find all the titles on the publisher’s website.

This mommy gives it five stars, a must have for your little pumpkin’s bookshelf. I would recommend it for children still in the read to me stage, but older kids will enjoy it as well.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the illustrations. I"m a gardener, and so I enjoyed the way the author showed young children how to grow pumpkins. There are several ways to use pumpkins. There are recipes for roasting the pumpkin seeds, and for pumpkin pie. Then there are jack o lanterns. This is a cute book, and a good gardening book for pumpkins.