Halloween has finally come and Little Nell, who had helped Big Mama and her sisters care for their pumpkin patch all summer, must pick out the perfect pumpkin for a jack-o-lantern. While Big Sarah picks the tallest pumpkin she can find, and Big Lizzie the roundest, Little Nell settles on a small bumpy one. Despite the criticism of her sisters, Nell is determined that this is the pumpkin for her, and with the help of her animal friends, creates a jack-o-lantern worthy of the season...

When I picked The Bumpy Little Pumpkin up from the Halloween display in the children's section of my public library this past weekend, I thought it looked like a sweet seasonal tale. I must have missed the text on the cover declaring it a companion to author/illustrator team Margery Cuyler and Will Hillenbrand's The Biggest, Best Snowman, as I didn't realize that it was the second picture to feature this character and her animal friends. Happily, it is not necessary to have read that earlier story, to appreciate this one, which emphasizes the idea that, as Big Mama says, jack-o-lanterns (and presumably little girls) come in all shapes and sizes. The story here is gentle and reassuring, the accompanying multi-media artwork (done in oil, tempera, watercolor, crayon, pencil and collage) appealing, in a sweet and quirky way. I don't know that this is the most memorable pumpkin tale for Halloween that I've ever encountered, but I'd certainly recommend it to younger picture book audiences in need to sweeter rather than scary fare. ( )

[GoodReads]
All summer, Little Nell has tended the garden with BIG Mama, BIG Sarah, and BIG Lizzie, and finally the pumpkins are ready for Halloween. Her sisters choose smooth, round pumpkins to carve, but Little Nell likes a bumpy little one best. Sarah and Lizzie jeer, "It's bumpy and little and ugly!" But Little Nell perseveres. With help from her animal friends, she scoops and carves it into a wonderful jack-o'-lantern! This sweet tale shows that jack-o'-lanterns, like people, come in all shapes and sizes, and that BIG ideas and a BIG heart resound in even the smallest of us.

along the second or third grade reading level. It sends a message about unique and individual beauty and that beauty is in the ey of the beholder.
Also uses repetitive phrases like Big Momma, Big Sarah, Big Lizzie
genre: fiction ( )

Summary: Little Nell is excited to pick out her pumpkin for Halloween. Her sisters choose tall, skinny pumpkins and big, round pumpkins, but Little Nell's favorite is a little, Bumpy Pumpkin.

Review: A great story that teaches that each person can have different opinions but that doesn't make any of them wrong.

Craft Elements/Lesson Activities: Adjectives- Have students point out the adjectives or describing words on each page.
Draw a picture of your own perfect pumpkin and pick some words to describe it. ( )

Love anything fall