Clayton the village mouse and Desmond the field mouse both fall in love with the same pumpkin, Clayton visiting it during the day to care for it, and Desmond at night. With their faithful ministrations, the pumpkin soon begins to grow to an enormous size, with both mice making their plans: one wants to win the town pumpkin contest, while the other dreams of creating the most magnificent jack-o-lantern ever. When the two eventually meet, they decide to work together to fulfill both of their ambitions...

The first of a number of seasonal picture books from author/illustrator team Steven Kroll and Jeni Bassett to feature the mice of Mouseville, The Biggest Pumpkin Ever pairs an engaging story of hard work and dreaming big with cute illustrations. I liked the fact that Clayton and Desmond discovering one another led, not to conflict, but to the two working together. That said, I did think it a little odd that Desmond followed the course of action he did, given that the narrative tells us that the pumpkin was in Clayton's garden. Surely it isn't reasonable for him to expect that it would be his, to make into a jack-o-lantern, when it always belonged to someone else? Leaving that aside, this was a sweet, gentle little tale for the Halloween season, and I would recommend it to picture book readers seeking such fare. ( )

This is such a cute and fun story with lovely artwork. ( )

With both mice set on one pumpkin to grow and enter into the jack-o-lantern contest, the house mouse and field mouse have to work together to make the pumpkin grow as large as possible to win the contest. This guided reading book teaches teamwork and compromise. Students may have a difficult time reading the words in the text, so a guided reading would be beneficial with this book.

In this book, the Author is trying to express the importance of teamwork. When the two mice worked together, their pumpkin grew bigger than all the others. They worked as a team, which resulted in winning the pumpkin contest. I believe reader's grasp the point in which the author is expressing. ( )

Summary: Two mice take care of the same pumpkin, one during the day and one at night. But they both have two very different plans for the pumpkin. Can they both get what they want, or will they be angry when they realize they must share the pumpkin they've worked so hard to raise?

Review: The Biggest Pumpkin Ever shows the value of working together and how two ideas don't always have to be opposing. Both mice are able to share and use the pumpkin, and it never would have gotten so big if they both hadn't taken care of it. Only note is one took care of a pumpkin that wasn't theirs, which could send a conflicting message about taking or using things that don't belong to you.

Craft Elements/Lesson Activities: What do you think the pumpkin would have looked like if only one mouse took care of it? ( )