From My Reading Chair…
Do clear your calendars, kindred spirits! We have been invited to Mr Pumpkin’s Tea Party!
And what a guest list it is… We have Lord Wolfington! Dr Cairo! Baron Lagoon! Lady Nightshade!
Honestly, it feels as though Bridgerton and Hotel Transylvania have co-hosted the season’s most magnificent monster soirée. And ordered an excellent cake.
Which is EXACTLY the kind of society event I have been waiting to attend.
Erin Barker’s illustrations are a watercolour haze of autumnal dreamland. Soft, glowing and sumptuously spooky-cute, with delicate linework bringing every marvellous guest into focus.
I want to wander into the twilight, take my place at the table and spend the evening admiring everybody’s outfits. And eating cake.
Obviously.
The rhyming stanzas feel like a waltz of words, while the pages sweep between expansive party scenes and tiny illustrated details, as though the book itself is dancing us around the table. That shift in scale creates visual rhythm: the spreads establish spectacle, then the smaller details reward a slower, closer look.
It is ridiculously satisfying to read aloud. This is a counting book, yes, but it feels like an OCCASION.
A banquet of numbers and a gathering of illustrations.
An elegant little autumn soirée that I immediately want to recreate in real life. I now need to host my very own pumpkin tea party. Naturally, Lord Wolfington is invited. Does anybody have his address?
Creep on Reading, Pumpkins!
