The Squampkin Patch: A Nasselrogt Adventure

by J.T. Petty, David Michael Friend (Illustrator)

After escaping from the Urchin House Orphanage, eleven-year-old Milton and his eight-year-old sister, Chloe, settle into the empty house of a candy maker where they encounter a very sinister pumpkin patch.

Genres: Juvenile

256 pages, Hardcover

First published August 8, 2006

About the author

Besides writing children's books, Petty is also a director and screenwriter for movies and video games. His film Soft for Digging was an Official Selection of the Sundance Film Festival. He received a Game Developers Choice Award for his work on the bestselling video game Splinter Cell. JT lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

[nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything about this book is fantastic, J.T. Petty is completely underrated (see also Clemency Pogue, Fairy Killer, and no, it doesn't need to be fall for you to read this. It's like all the best parts of Lemony Snicket, Goosebumps, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the movie Monster House in one. It's really funny and it's written really friggin' well. Plus there's flip action in the bottom right corner! of a squampkin turning into a MONSTER. What more do you want?

The book starts out with the Nasselrogt (pronounced nasal-rod) children being sent to an orphanage after their neglectful, self-absorbed parents fry themselves in tanning beds at the local mall. The orphanage is really a zipper factory, though, and the children are forced into labor, gluing individual zipper teeth in place. Naturally they run away and adopt hidden identities. They end up in an abandoned house/candy shop in a small town where they discover the secret squampkin recipe, which, while earning them a living and making them some local enemies, also slowly reveals a secret past and results in a really exciting, actually sort of frightening, monster-chasing-you-down-a-tunnel-about-to-eat-your-face-off-on-Halloween climax. DAMN. Read it, people!

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It a good Halloween story for someone in 5th or 6th grade. It's sad ,funny , and weird.It would be fun to read it to a bunch of kids. It also has good chocolate chip pumpkin cookie recipe at the end of the book.

[K. Dillard · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far I like this book. It's a children's book (age 9-14), but I actually like it. It's about 2 kids who went shopping with their parents, and ended up losing their parents. They go to an orphanage and are turned into zipper factory workers. They escape, and run into this home that belonged to a Chocolate and Dessert maker. His house is vacant and has been for a long time. So, they take over his home. He has a hybrid plant growing in his yard which is supposedly half pumpkin and half squash. Come to find out the gourds are actually MONSTERS, and they are fully hatched on Halloween. The story is whimsical, has lots of jokes, and sometimes the author will stop writing about the people in the story, and basically talk to the reader. If you flip through the bottom of the book, you can watch the pumpkin turn into a monster. It's a really neat book and an easy read.

[Leanza · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never heard of this book literally until the moment I saw it in the bookstore. It was a secondhand bookstore and I only got it because I didn't want to leave without buying anything because everything was so cheap (and in hardcover!). And I am SO HAPPY that I picked it up! It was a super fun and quite creepy read with some mystery - darkly humorous thriller indeed.

For me, it had as much charm as The Graveyard Book, but with a more concise story (and also more humorous), and the movie Monster House. Definitely fit for Halloween.

[*natal!e* · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is full of amazingly small adventures with the Nasslerogt children,choe an milton.all that go from the mall pants wrack to living in charlie argyles house,where hundreds of squampkins comealive the night before halloween and give you what you desire most

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started out as a Snicket-esque romp, but took a very dark turn that I'm still not sure what I think of it. Despite some very laugh out loud moments and wry sense of humor, it was just a little too dark for my tastes, though my sister loves it.

[Cristina Mathew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. it's mainly for little kids, and I did read it when I was younger but it still stays stuck in my head. The main characters in the book are lovable and you feel like your with them during their entire journey.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to my nephews. It was a bit scary at times, but we all liked it. The author has quite a fun sense of humor and it had a happy ending. I like happy endings!

[Dallan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun read around Halloween time. The plots absolutely ridiculous, which makes it fun quick read. And for a find a the Dollar Store, it was pretty good!

[Queeey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilariously funny. Reminiscent of Lemony Snickett. I really liked this book. It would be a great read aloud for kids too.