Pumpkin: The Raccoon Who Thought She Was a Dog

by Laura Young

As a baby, Pumpkin the Raccoon was abandoned by her parents after falling out of a tree and breaking her leg. Taken in by a family with two rescue dogs, Toffee and Oreo, Pumpkin gained a new set of "parents" and a life of luxury in the Bahamas.

The Raccoon Who Thought She Was a Dog is a sweet, unique look at an adorable household pet, captured in gorgeous, never-before-seen photographs in luxurious settings. Pumpkin’s message is that friendship and love can be found in the most unlikely of companions. With a lot of personality, and a little bit of mischief, Pumpkin will capture hearts all around the world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, Humor, Memoir, Natural History, Photography

160 pages, Hardcover

Published October 4, 2016

Reviews

[karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

hi, i'm karen. have we met? no? all you need to know about me is that i miss EVERYTHING GOOD on the internet until they make a book out of it. therefore, i knew nothing of pumpkin the raccoon until i saw this book and it rekindled the need i have had for a pet raccoon that has been burning ever since i read Frosty: A Raccoon to Remember when i was very young.

i need this. real bad.



most people who have reviewed this book on here so far had already been introduced to pumpkin through the magic of the internet, and were let down by the quality of the writing and the repetition of stuff they'd already encountered on the various social media destinations that feature pumpkin. but for me, this was all new stuff. all new chubby mischievous stuff.



and, while i hesitate to judge anyone's perfectly valid reactions, if you're reading this for the captions, we have to have a talk. because, yeah - they're kind of phoned-in



but why are you even reading them?? hey, buddy, eyes up here! where the fuzzy thing is!



for those of you who live in a cave, here's the skinny on pumpkin: she is a raccoon who was orphaned during a tropical storm in the bahamas when she was only a month old, and rescued by a couple who had, six years earlier, rescued two eight-week-old abandoned and injured puppy-sisters; oreo and toffee. unable to find a home for the baby raccoon, they took her into their home, apprehensive about how the animals would react to each other, but with no other options. next time, ask ME! i have many eggs!



fortunately, not only did the animals get along, their home became like some sort of disney movie of mutualistic affection and sisterhood presided over by the cutest raccoon ever, who is very hands-on in her affection



and now they all wanna be raccoons!



in fact, i kind of want to be a raccoon



it looks so relaxing!



and full of snacks



there's a warning at the end of this book that raccoons don't typically make good pets, and that pumpkin was a special case because she was orphaned and blah and blah, but that just sounds like HOGGING to me! don't be greedy with the raccoon-having!

pweez can i come live with you?? blink, blink.



but i know, i knoooooowww. raccoons are wild animals and they are very disruptive on account of their clever little hands



that are so strong



and get into everything







and their curiosity



and their ability to climb up into anything. although pumpkin seems to be a little lacking in that department







although she did manage this:



and this



on the other hand, pumpkin also managed to toilet train herself, which seems much more convenient than 99% of the traditional pet options, and she even has her own bathroom, which seems excessive, but whatever.

and she seems to be able to entertain herself



and do you see how freaking white this house is??







with two dogs and a naughty little raccoon, it seems inexplicable that they would manage to keep everything so blindingly white. i have one cat, and she manages to track food and litter and fur and ripped-up cardboard all over the place, so i suspect pumpkin has also been taught how to vacuum and mop and dust.

if you wanna read about raccoons, there are books for that. if you wanna see a raccoon cuddle with dogs and play in the sand and jump off a surfboard into a swimming pool, this is your book.

even the endpapers are adorable



but not as adorable as raccoon-feet



maggie is less impressed with pumpkin, and there was lots of eye-rolling and "you want me to do cute things with my hands? look, i'm doing cute things with my hands. don't you dare bring a freaking raccoon into this house. don't make me play the cancer card."



so i guess that settles it: no raccoon for me.

here is where pumpkin can be found on the internet:

https://www.instagram.com/pumpkinther...

https://www.facebook.com/PumpkinTheRa...

and this:



is my 2017 wall calendar. and it is so freaking cute.

come to my blog!

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pictures were cute. I didn’t care for the captions.

[Figgy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute story and such funny pictures!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a sweet/cute trash panda! 😍
This book is full of great photos of Pumpkin and a quick story about her life. The only downside to this book is there was very little story. I would love to hear more about this little baby and her life as a 'dog'!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure how to review this book... Cute photos, very little text. This book is formatted like a children's picture book - in fact my 11 year old daughter grabbed it from me and can't get enough of Pumpkin! I did enjoy seeing a different perspective on raccoons. Where I live, raccoons are typically seen as a pest that goes through the garbage or makes a mess in the pool. To see that Pumpkin forms a bond to her human and dog family makes me rethink how I see raccoons in general. I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway.

[Tatiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

For someone who loves raccoons as much as me this book was a treat. While I would love to have a raccoon like Pumpkin, raccoons are wild animals and need to be treated as such. But Pumpkin is just too adorable for her own good

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a sweet story as well as inspirational in pointing out that our differences do not have to be barriers to friendship. I also really appreciated the inclusion of a message from the Bahamian Humane society making sure readers are aware that Pumpkin's is a unique situation and sharing the proper protocol for helping injured wildlife.

[Mum Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book to read. The photos of Pumpkin with Toffee & Oreo are so precious. I also appreciated the occasional anecdote as well as the explanation as to how Pumpkin became a "raccoon-dog."

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of cute fun.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very humorous pictorial story about a family who find an injured racoon and heal her. She then stays with the family and their two dogs.

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute, humorous, pictorial adult book would have been more appealing if it included more prose. The photos were delightful. This story will appeal to children, too.

A family provides healing for an injured raccoon. The raccoon and the two family dogs become friends and bond.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

As much as I adore author Laura Young's @pumpkintheraccoon Instagram posts (and I really do, and recommend all users of that social media app to subscribe to her account), I found her book about Pumpkin to be less than the sum of its parts. It's cute, for sure, and filled with lovely snapshots of the adorable critter and her two canine besties, Oreo and Toffee. The accompanying brief bits of text, however, are too vacuous for my taste, with many of the same breathless one-dimensional descriptions repeated ad nauseam. In addition, the photos which look so wonderful on Instagram do not fare particularly well in the translation to the printed page. Still, I was happy to give money to Ms. Young, since her online efforts make me smile on a daily basis.

[Emmy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A cute premise and cute pictures, but I was not a fan of the writing. First, and this is just personal preference, but I don't like the phrase "pet parent" or when pet owners refer to themselves as "mama" and "daddy". Pets are pets and kids are kids. There is a difference. Also, I'm a bit disturbed by how spoiled this racoon is. She floods the house one night, and everyone thinks it's hilarious! Yikes! And I don't know about you, but I'm not going to make my pet a special home-cooked breakfast every morning.

tl;dr: cute pictures, but tedious writing. Just enjoy the visuals and ignore the text.

[Brianna McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this on my lunch break for my book challenge, "read a book guaranteed to bring you joy." This one definitely fit the bill!

[Villa Park Public Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a delightful and quick read about an injured, orphaned raccoon named Pumpkin, who was adopted by a couple and formed an unbreakable loving bond with their two dogs. The bulk of the book is adorable pictures of the pets with captions of imagined conversations between them. Young also adds some funny and cute stories from her perspective of raising a raccoon. Importantly, the book closes out with a note from the local humane society advising people not to take in raccoons as pets; unlike Pumpkin's rare situation, they are wild animals who are not domesticated. Instead, it informs people to take any injured ones they find to a local wildlife center.

Check this book out at the Villa Park Public Library!

[alexander shay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute. I had no idea about the backstory to Pumpkin. But I'll admit I skipped all the text. I just wanted to see the pictures because raccoons are awesome. Some of them were cute, but a lot of them kind of looked the same, just Pumpkin and the dogs at different angles on different pieces of furniture. The novelty quickly wore off and I kept turning the pages hoping for something I hadn't yet seen a variation of.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

No it's not great literature, it's not even literature, but it's super cute. An orphaned racoon in the Bahamas (who knew that there were racoons in the Bahamas? Not me) takes over a family and now this book with her totally cute antics. She thinks she's a dog and likes hanging on the couch doing dog things. Glad to have found a remaindered copy, I will pass it along to my favourite primary school library.

[Les · Rating 5 out of 5]

"At the end of the day we aren't so different from each other, and if a raccoon and two dogs can become friends, then we too, can have compassion and love for anyone, no matter how different they may seem."

super cute, quick read.
it's mostly pictures with cute captions and a few quick anecdotes.

definitely makes for a great coffee table book

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned of the book after accidentally stumbling across the Instagram account. I adore raccoons, but not as uninvited guests (don’t ask), and was intrigued to see one living indoors as someone’s furchild. Although Pumpkin has crossed the rainbow bridge, I could feel the heartbreak in her mama, and knew I wanted to learn more about this sweet little girl who thought she was a dog.

[Michele H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute pictures of the raccoon named Pumpkin who joined the author's family after falling from a tree and got along really well with their two dogs. I thought this was going to be more informational and have a more in-depth story, but it's still really cute and a very quick read.

[Sunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was far too cute.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is not much to say about this book except for three things: Raccoon. Puppy. Read it.

[Bernard · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG. The pictures! I want a Pumpkin of my very own!

I promptly ordered one book for every child I know under the age of fifty.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, cute, and excellent warning at the back of the book NOT to do this. :)

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick read! So cute! It's like reading a Facebook posting with extended text. Lots of extremely cute and funny pictures. Definitely lifted my spirits.

[Crystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sure, pictures of a tame raccoon are cute, especially when it's cuddling with some cute dogs, but did they need to be compiled in a book? Nope.

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

Concept was better than the final product.

[Keke · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cuuuute!!!!

[Diane Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Pumpkin!