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Pumpkins: A Story for a Field
This is a story about a field and a man who loved it enough to do something to save it from development. Based on the author's personal efforts to protect the land, this story broadcasts a deliberate and timely environmental message that, like the intentionally nameless protagonist, anyone can make a difference. Aglow in harvest tones, Root's strong watercolor and gouache paintings heighten the story's magic.
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
2 people are currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
Mary Lyn Ray
31 books36 followersMary Lyn Ray is a conservationist and author of several picture books for children. She was born in Louisiana in 1946 and grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. Ray has lived in New England since 1964, when she first came east to attend college. She currently lives in a 150-year-old farmhouse in South Danbury, New Hampshire, which she restored herself.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
February 26, 2022
When an old man realises that a lovely country meadow across from his residence is for sale and likely to be bought by urban developers, the man (who loves this very field, but does not have the financial means to purchase it) decides to raise money by seeding the meadow with pumpkins, by growing pumpkins in the field. Will his endeavour be successful? Will he be able to grow enough pumpkins, and then sell enough to save his field, to purchase his meadow so it can be safeguarded from the threat of urbanisation?
While I do appreciate the ecological message presented by author Mary Lyn Ray, and at least somewhat enjoyed the storyline, I also think that many of the more fantastical elements introduced during the final segment of the narrative (the magic carpets, that the old man phones every kingdom, every congress, every nation about selling, shipping his harvested pumpkins) rather take away from both the general story as well as the message of sustainability, keeping meadows natural, using nature and natural means to thwart urban sprawl (I certainly enjoyed the beginning of Pumpkins considerably more than the end, as the fantastical elements seem a trifle tacked on, almost like a deus ex machina, so that the old man could get his pumpkins shipped and sold worldwide). I guess one could perhaps also postulate that the entire narrative is, in fact, a bit surreal (seeding a field with pumpkins and then actually growing and harvesting hundreds of thousands of them is also rather fanciful and unrealistic). For me personally, though, while the first section of this tale at least seems somewhat probable and potentially realistic, much of the final segment seems both highly improbable and actually, quite strange (especially the magic carpets, which really do not fit into the story all that well, which really have no reason for even appearing in the text).
My friend Abigail pointed out that some of the cultural assumptions made by the author are also somewhat problematic (like the presumption that those individuals not living in North America would by necessity not be familiar with pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns). Having now reread Pumpkins, I realise that this is, unfortunately, rather true at times. However, I also have to admit that I did not really notice this so much the first time I read the story (and that is perhaps because when we immigrated from Germany to Canada in 1976, I actually did not know what a pumpkin was, so this part of Pumpkins did not feel and seem all that strange and improbable to me at first).
Barry Root's accompnying illustrations are in most ways quite lovely (they are bright, descriptive and do provide a generally successful mirror of and compliment to Mary Lyn Ray's text). The only minor issue I have is with the fact that so many of the illustrations depict trucks, planes, ships and the like, which again kind of if not even rather lessens the ecological message (I would definitely have appreciated and preferred more illustrations of pumpkins and less depictions of modern technology).
While I do appreciate the ecological message presented by author Mary Lyn Ray, and at least somewhat enjoyed the storyline, I also think that many of the more fantastical elements introduced during the final segment of the narrative (the magic carpets, that the old man phones every kingdom, every congress, every nation about selling, shipping his harvested pumpkins) rather take away from both the general story as well as the message of sustainability, keeping meadows natural, using nature and natural means to thwart urban sprawl (I certainly enjoyed the beginning of Pumpkins considerably more than the end, as the fantastical elements seem a trifle tacked on, almost like a deus ex machina, so that the old man could get his pumpkins shipped and sold worldwide). I guess one could perhaps also postulate that the entire narrative is, in fact, a bit surreal (seeding a field with pumpkins and then actually growing and harvesting hundreds of thousands of them is also rather fanciful and unrealistic). For me personally, though, while the first section of this tale at least seems somewhat probable and potentially realistic, much of the final segment seems both highly improbable and actually, quite strange (especially the magic carpets, which really do not fit into the story all that well, which really have no reason for even appearing in the text).
My friend Abigail pointed out that some of the cultural assumptions made by the author are also somewhat problematic (like the presumption that those individuals not living in North America would by necessity not be familiar with pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns). Having now reread Pumpkins, I realise that this is, unfortunately, rather true at times. However, I also have to admit that I did not really notice this so much the first time I read the story (and that is perhaps because when we immigrated from Germany to Canada in 1976, I actually did not know what a pumpkin was, so this part of Pumpkins did not feel and seem all that strange and improbable to me at first).
Barry Root's accompnying illustrations are in most ways quite lovely (they are bright, descriptive and do provide a generally successful mirror of and compliment to Mary Lyn Ray's text). The only minor issue I have is with the fact that so many of the illustrations depict trucks, planes, ships and the like, which again kind of if not even rather lessens the ecological message (I would definitely have appreciated and preferred more illustrations of pumpkins and less depictions of modern technology).
October 13, 2012
I liked the color palette of the illustrations in this book, and... that's it. I read this to my nephew tonight, and when he learned that the man sold all of his belongings except his bed, stove, and bathtub in order to save this field he said, "Where is he going to keep his food?" Excellent point, really. There were so many glaring improbabilities in this story that it was really hard to enjoy the thing. I'm all for imagination, but I think that completely unchained imagination was the undoing of this book. And that's not just me, either. When we finished Pumpkins I asked my nephew, who is four, and all about imagination what he thought of it, and his response was, "Um... Amy, that was really weird." Not even he could suspend disbelief.
November 8, 2018
When the field across from his modest rural home is put up for sale, the elderly hero of Mary Lyn Ray's Pumpkins does everything he can to raise the money to buy it, convinced that otherwise it will be snapped up by a developer, and turned into a housing complex. Unable to come up with the required amount, even after selling most of his possessions, the man hatches a sure-fire scheme: he will grow a bumper crop of pumpkins on the field, and use the profit from the sale of the crop to buy the land.
Chosen as one of our October selections in The Picture-Book Club to which I belong, where our theme this month is "Harvest-Time and Pumpkins," this is a story that I expected to like far more than I did. Leaving aside the problematic nature of the man's use of the field, when he hasn't yet purchased it - I realize that this is a gray area, but I'm far more sympathetic to the violation of property rights if it springs from a genuine and immediate need, such as hunger, rather than from a desire (for reasons noble or ignoble) to buy property - I found myself a little uncomfortable with some of the cultural assumptions in this book. While it's certainly true that jack-o-lanterns are more common here in the states than in some parts of the world, the author's assumption that people elsewhere wouldn't know what pumpkins were seemed... a little odd to me. Don't tell my favorite Thai restaurant, where they make a pumpkin custard to die for!
Of course, I realize that many of the story elements here are meant to be fantastical, rather than realistic, but somehow the end product just didn't work for me - and this despite my sympathy for the cause of fighting encroaching urban sprawl on rural lands, and my fondness for all things autumnal.
Chosen as one of our October selections in The Picture-Book Club to which I belong, where our theme this month is "Harvest-Time and Pumpkins," this is a story that I expected to like far more than I did. Leaving aside the problematic nature of the man's use of the field, when he hasn't yet purchased it - I realize that this is a gray area, but I'm far more sympathetic to the violation of property rights if it springs from a genuine and immediate need, such as hunger, rather than from a desire (for reasons noble or ignoble) to buy property - I found myself a little uncomfortable with some of the cultural assumptions in this book. While it's certainly true that jack-o-lanterns are more common here in the states than in some parts of the world, the author's assumption that people elsewhere wouldn't know what pumpkins were seemed... a little odd to me. Don't tell my favorite Thai restaurant, where they make a pumpkin custard to die for!
Of course, I realize that many of the story elements here are meant to be fantastical, rather than realistic, but somehow the end product just didn't work for me - and this despite my sympathy for the cause of fighting encroaching urban sprawl on rural lands, and my fondness for all things autumnal.
October 17, 2012
This is a very strange and unrealistic story about one man's efforts to keep the surrounding area around his home pristine and free from development. The illustrations aren't overly appealing, and I'm afraid I could hardly see his attraction to the barren field. I'm not sure what else to say about this story - it's just bizarre.
This story was selected as one of the books for the October 2012 - Harvest-Time and Pumpkins reads at the Picture-Book Club in the Children's Books Group here at Goodreads.
This is the first time that I'm disappointed that I voted for a book for this book club. I usually pick stories we haven't read yet in hopes of discovering some gems. And usually, we do. I guess you can't win 'em all.
This story was selected as one of the books for the October 2012 - Harvest-Time and Pumpkins reads at the Picture-Book Club in the Children's Books Group here at Goodreads.
This is the first time that I'm disappointed that I voted for a book for this book club. I usually pick stories we haven't read yet in hopes of discovering some gems. And usually, we do. I guess you can't win 'em all.
September 1, 2019
Why must "development" be something that a field needs to be "saved against"? Maybe the man could have felt differently - he saw the "For Sale" sign and knew it meant bulldozers, houses, streets, and streetlights - and people who will come to live together and have a wonderful community, establishing businesses and being productive and creative. Why isn't that a possibility? Instead we are railroaded into the idea that a field must stay a field. How the hell would anyone get anywhere if all the fields stayed as fields? It's nice that this one man had his house to live in, but now he's all NiMBY and wants to prevent anyone else from having the same kind of opportunity that he had.
So then, when he is still short of the purchase price of the field, apparently he trespasses and illegally plants pumpkins there. So...his strongly held belief of what he wants is more important than obeying the law. And then (after some odd fantasy intervenes), he earns enough money through this illegal venture to buy the field legally. And then he doesn't plant more pumpkins. He leaves it an empty unproductive field. What children ought to learn is that this bozo should have been arrested and thrown in jail. Instead he is propped up as some kind of "hero" who should be emulated. Awful propaganda.
So then, when he is still short of the purchase price of the field, apparently he trespasses and illegally plants pumpkins there. So...his strongly held belief of what he wants is more important than obeying the law. And then (after some odd fantasy intervenes), he earns enough money through this illegal venture to buy the field legally. And then he doesn't plant more pumpkins. He leaves it an empty unproductive field. What children ought to learn is that this bozo should have been arrested and thrown in jail. Instead he is propped up as some kind of "hero" who should be emulated. Awful propaganda.
September 1, 2019
You get nothing from this book, perhaps, what not to do. You don't fill a child's mind with incorrect information that seems credible to a naive mind. First of all, he illegally farmed a land that is not his because he is anti-progression and development. How condescending for this author to say that people all over the world outside of the United States don't know what pumpkins are used for and that many of them didn't even know about vanilla ice cream.
But lucky this rural farmer with exceptional country education knew how to write many languages and he wrote to the ignorant countries explaining what to do with pumpkins. Apparently this rural old man has an MBA, minors in international relationships, agriculture and in many different languages.
I understand that this book was written a while ago before the internet became a mass media and countries were less developed but this book should be pulled from the shelves today. Who didn't hate being lied to when they were a kid and asked a question and have someone give them incorrect information for kicks.
But lucky this rural farmer with exceptional country education knew how to write many languages and he wrote to the ignorant countries explaining what to do with pumpkins. Apparently this rural old man has an MBA, minors in international relationships, agriculture and in many different languages.
I understand that this book was written a while ago before the internet became a mass media and countries were less developed but this book should be pulled from the shelves today. Who didn't hate being lied to when they were a kid and asked a question and have someone give them incorrect information for kicks.
March 30, 2023
"Pumpkins" by Mary Lyn Ray and Barry Root is a children's book that tells how one man saved a field near his home from development by planting pumpkins. Slowing down urban sprawl may not be a goal for everyone, but the ease and devotion to growing a field of pumpkins offers plenty of life lessons in this colorful book for kids ages 4 and up.
This story is told in simple text with muted colors that one associates with fall. It is somewhat like a fairy tale in that before the man grew the pumpkins, people around the world had never heard of pumpkins. Although the book isn't preachy and doesn't come out and say it, it has an important message that one person can make a difference in the world. It could be growing pumpkins or it could be reading to a child, but each action has a consequence that will touch the lives of others.
This story is told in simple text with muted colors that one associates with fall. It is somewhat like a fairy tale in that before the man grew the pumpkins, people around the world had never heard of pumpkins. Although the book isn't preachy and doesn't come out and say it, it has an important message that one person can make a difference in the world. It could be growing pumpkins or it could be reading to a child, but each action has a consequence that will touch the lives of others.
September 30, 2021
This is a sweet story about a man who enjoyed having a large open field and how pumpkins made all the difference.
October 23, 2012
I liked most of this book. A man lives near a large empty field and because he knew that eventually houses would be built here, he decides to buy the field. He sells everything he owns in order to do so. Then he decides to plant pumpkins, which he does, A LOT OF THEM! The number of pumpkins is very specific as are the rest of the items needed to do something with these pumpkins: fourteen hundred trucks, 37 boats, 800 airplanes - and flying carpets. This is where I thought the story began to take on an unbelievable feel. The man tries to give the pumpkins to everyone throughout the world, but no one knows what to do with a pumpkin. He wrote out 461,212 letters explaining what pumpkins were for. And then he sent the pumkpkins out and the people had a ball with the pumpkins. This all made the man very happy and he still had the field to look at. That's more or less the story. I didn't think that there was enough to keep the attention of the reader through to the end. Maybe for a child it might be different.
October 27, 2022
Although at times a little pointed with themes of minimalism and parsimony, that aside, it's kind of a funny book and not to be taken too seriously. The old man certainly has some silly ideas about selling pumpkins!
Ages: 4 - 8
Cleanliness: a couple of jack-o-lanterns in the pictures.
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Ages: 4 - 8
Cleanliness: a couple of jack-o-lanterns in the pictures.
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide a Cleanliness Report, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
So Follow or Friend me here on GoodReads! And be sure to check out my bio page to learn a little about me and the Picture Book/Chapter Book Calendars I sell on Etsy!
March 5, 2013
When I picked up this book I thought it was all about pumpkins. Yet that was not it at atll. This story is about setting goals, deep emotions and setting plans into actions to get what we want in life. It also teaches about economics, inovative ideas and that what goes around comes around. What a clever story with a unique ending!
August 15, 2018
The illustrations in this book are very lovely, and I loved the concept of a man trying to save a natural spot that was important to him. The story had a ton of plot-holes though, and even though it's a children's book and we're supposed to suspend our belief, I found it hard that he could have made any money on these pumpkins if he's also paying to ship them all over the world?? And he only sells them for a dollar apiece?? And while sharing your own cultures traditions is fun, it seemed a little colonialist to have him press his own holiday traditions on all these other countries. I did really like the art style. Haha, I didn't think I had so many opinions about this book.
September 4, 2022
I'm torn on this one. On one hand, I think it is a fun, whimsical story that will make children giggle. On the other hand, though, I feel like the author was trying to make a statement about ecology and sustainability, which is fine. It's just that the fantasy elements don't sit well with that. It's not smooth, but rather clunky. Overall, I know children will enjoy this story (let's face it--children love exaggerations like 461,212 pumpkins), I just feel like it was trying to be too many things at once.
October 6, 2021
This was such a strangely bad book. It aims for the fantastical and falls flat. Its efforts at whimsy are clunky and it’s assumptions that nobody the main character knows what a pumpkin is is just a weird plot device. Digging deeper, we have contradictory environmental concerns and misuse of property, but, well, I don’t know that my 2 year old noticed.
The pictures are pretty.
The pictures are pretty.
November 30, 2023
I love this book! The illustrations are beautiful, the message is timeless, and there's a lot of unexpected humor tucked in. I'm a librarian, and I've read this aloud to many students who enjoyed it, particularly because of the weird departures from reality :)
September 29, 2019
I thought it was ridiculous for a children's book. But kids might like it.
October 7, 2021
How was this man allowed to plant and sell pumpkins in a field he did not own, and then use the money he earned to buy it?
May 29, 2022
Captivating. My girls (7 and 5yo) wouldn’t choose it themselves because the cover is outdated but the story is engrossing. I love that it talks about being content.
November 7, 2022
Wonderfully wacky and creative.
June 16, 2023
I agree with the other reviews and was glad I wasn’t alone on this one. Fantastical and out of place, improbable yet not inspiring, and he runs out of money only to seem to have deep pockets to distribute his pumpkins. This has no value to read to my kids. Donating it back to the library sale now.
Read Too Many Pumpkins instead.
Read Too Many Pumpkins instead.
October 22, 2009
Gentle pictures, charming story. A man sells all he owns to buy a field near his home -- but it isn't enough. So he raises pumpkins and purchases the field with the proceeds. Perfect harvest story. Great read-aloud.
Now I need to buy a copy of my own...
Now I need to buy a copy of my own...
October 30, 2012
I don't even know. This book made me tear up a little? Which I'm pretty embarrassed about. I just love pumpkins, you guys. You know how Kristen Bell feels about sloths - that's how I feel about pumpkins.
April 21, 2013
Barry Root did a great job with the illustrations. This was a very nice, minimalistic story of a man who grew pumpkins and spread them over the world all so he could afford to appreciate a field behind his home. The numbers in this book seemed over the top, but the book was great all the same.
September 18, 2023
A man lives by a quiet grassy field he very much enjoys. When it goes up for sale he sells what he can of his possessions to raise enough money to buy it, but he can't come up with enough money, until ... pumpkins! Fun far-fetched story and lovely illustrations.
October 14, 2009
Not the Halloween story I expected, but we enjoyed the story of a man finding an innovative way to protect a land from development nonetheless.
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September 27, 2013In this fictional story, a field and pumpkins make one think about what is important in life.
October 14, 2013
A good story to read about pumpkins. it has names of different countries, and numbers in it for kids to help learn while reading while following the story.
October 23, 2014
I just read this book to a group of gr 3 and 4 students and they loved it! They loved that he did everything in his power to save the field. They also loved how many pumpkins the man grew.
January 20, 2020
This tall tale about the love of a field really warmed my heart.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews