Reviews for Pumpkin Pumpkin

The average rating for Pumpkin Pumpkin based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-10-12 00:00:00 Christopher Davis Jeanne Titherington's Pumpkin Pumpkin (about a little boy named Jamie who plants a pumpkin seed in the spring and then in late October harvests a large pumpkin to carve into a Jack O'Lantern for Halloween) is the type of picture book that while the illustrations I have found sweetly magical and very much appreciatively evocative, the actual text, the narrative presented alongside of these glowing and wonderful pictorial images leaves (at least for me on a personal level) more than a bit to be desired. Now while the above mentioned illustrations are indeed whimsical, imaginatively detailed and expressive (and I especially have enjoyed how on almost EVERY pictorial spread, author/illustrator Jeanne Titherington includes an animal, from a ladybug to the family dog), I do tend to find at least some of the facial expressions of the main protagonist, of young Jamie (the pumpkin planter and harvester) a bit overly exaggerated, even unnatural at times, or more to the point, a trifle too in one's proverbial face, especially considering how the rest of the illustrations primarily do shine because of their laid back and muted character. But all that having been said, the illustrations for Pumpkin Pumpkin have most definitely and for the most part been a more than pleasant surprise, an appreciated and even very much cherished aesthetic feast for my eyes. Unfortunately though, the magic of Jeanne Titherington's illustrations does not really in any way transfer itself to the narrative, to the actual written text of Pumpkin Pumpkin. For compared to the always lushly conceptualised, the often minutely descriptive details of the featured and presented pictures of young Jamie's pumpkin planting experiences (with the pumpkin plant in the various stages of its growth and life cycle, with the diverse animals, with Jamie patiently waiting for his planted pumpkin to grow, to mature and finally, the carved Jack O'Lantern in all its glory), the accompanying narrative is really so standardly simple, so lacking in almost ANY kind of supplemental description that it (at least to and for me) feels pretty well majorly tedious and mundane, a barely adequate description of the pumpkin growing process, of Jamie planting a pumpkin seed and later harvesting a large pumpkin and carving it into a Jack O'Lantern for Halloween, and really and truly, not all that special by any stretch of the imagination. And actually, without the oh so wonderful and oh so evocative and engaging illustrations, I for one would be massively and yes even annoyingly bored with and by Pumpkin Pumpkin (so much so that while I could in fact and indeed imagine this book without its text, with just the illustrations, I could never even remotely consider Pumpkin Pumpkin with just the presented narrative, with just the text, as the latter is so simplistic, so overly basic that without the accompanying pictures, the text would be barely tolerable, barely readable, as while the story penned by the author is sweet enough, it is just too basic and too lacking in almost any superfluous detail to be even remotely enjoyable on its own). Two and a half stars for Pumpkin Pumpkin, rounded down to a high two stars ranking, because the sweetness and loveliness of Jeanne Titherington's pictorial images notwithstanding, there is simply not enough presented text-wise for me to consider a three star rating.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-10-08 00:00:00 Phil Ashbach 3.5 STARS My sons and I enjoyed Pumpkin Pumpkin. I think part of the charm for me was in the 80s style illustrations; they bring up warm childhood memories! ;-) I like the softness and gentleness in them, too--so many autumn books are very bright and bold, which makes sense given the gorgeous colors this time of year, but it was nice to see something a little different. I agree that the text wasn't particularly special, but as a mom of two wee ones, I did appreciate that it was simple yet fairly complete in its explanation of seed-to-pumpkin.