From My Reading Chair…
Pick a Pumpkin appears to have planted a nostalgic memory in my brain. Patricia Toht and Jarvis, what have you done to me?
I’m talking about the FULL autumnal adventure outing. Boots on, wrapped up and off to that local pumpkin patch of wonder. Inspecting every lumpy, bumpy, warty, ginormous, gourdgeous pumpkin before finding THE ONE. Then home to scoop out its glorious guts, carve it into something quintessentially Halloweeny and wait for the dark to creep in so we can introduce it to its nightscape. That is what this book completely evokes!
Patricia Toht’s text carries us along at a lovely rhythmic trot of a pace. The words feel fun and chewy in my mouth, making the 'choosing, carrying, cleaning and carving' a pleasure to share aloud. Each stage brings us closer to Halloween night, and that steady rhythm begins to pick up and prepare for the gathering excitement. We are making something! Halloween is coming! Erm, where are my carving tools?!
There’s a practical journey here for children to follow too, from choosing their pumpkin to turning it into a gleeful jack-o’-lantern. I’d read this before heading to the pumpkin patch (during and maybe even after!). It would get everybody suitably excited beforehand to balance out the fact I would be spending FAR too long choosing mine. Choosing is a serious business. I will not be rushed!
Jarvis’s artwork feels like a hazy dream of chalk, pencil and paint. The colours soften into one another, while the texture and scale of those enormous double-page spreads envelop me in a kind of jack-o’-lantern-lit joy bath. It feels warm and lived-in, fully immersing me in this anemoia-like state of mind. I’m nostalgic for a pumpkin-picking childhood I never actually had! I want to climb straight inside the pages and live in the moment forever. URGH!
The scale of the spreads gives us room to explore alongside the families. My eyeballs wander through the scenes while Toht’s words keep the outing moving, then linger over the details on another visit. That relationship between the rhythm and illustration makes this so satisfying to return to: I can read it aloud at a trot, slow right down and canter through the day, or gallop all the way to All Hallows’ Eve. (Bear in mind I don’t ride horses, so if that’s wrong, sorry, equestrian readers!)
By the time the finished pumpkins begin to glow, we’ve followed all the fun, mess and creativity that brought them into being. I love that we get to spend time with the whole process. I think it captures that this is a whole ritual, an experience not to be hurried along because its scarcity makes it more magical and meaningful.
LOVE LOVE LOVE.
A gorgeous companion for your own pumpkin traditions, or for borrowing a little jack-o’-lantern-lit joy while you plan them. Now, somebody pass me my boots. I have a nostalgic memory to go and revisit/ make?!
Creep on Reading, Pumpkins!