From My Reading Chair…
One mention of the Great Pumpkin and my brain is back in that pumpkin patch, waiting with Linus. Apparently, we’re still hopeful.
Linus in the pumpkin patch, Snoopy as the Flying Ace, Charlie Brown receiving yet another rock. And that annual hope that perhaps, just perhaps, the Great Pumpkin will finally arrive this time.
But it is Linus I adore most. Part of me wants to scoop him up from that pumpkin patch and take him to the party. The other part completely understands his unwavering belief that magic exists and is worth waiting for. Because what is Halloween without that tingling sense that something magical might happen? That if you believe hard enough (and wait just a little longer) something extraordinary might appear from the darkness?
I want the costumes. The parties. The ridiculous Halloween treats. But I also want to keep a little of Linus’s faith that the impossible might still turn up. There is something so joyful, and slightly heartbreaking, about his optimism. The Halloween magic is already happening all around him, but Linus is waiting for the magic only he believes in. I think I need both: the celebration happening right now and the charged possibility of something still to come.
This 50th-anniversary edition wears a slightly nicer cover, while everything charming, funny and familiar inside remains exactly where it should be.
The moment somebody mentions the Great Pumpkin, I can practically feel the season beginning. It is one of the ways I know Halloween has truly arrived.
Creep on Reading, Pumpkins!
