The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steven Kroll

Book Genre: Fiction

Publishing Info.: Scholastic Inc., 32 pages

Awards or Honors Received: N/A

Summary: This story is about two mice, Clayton the house mouse, and Desmond the field mouse. Both mice picked out the same pumpkin and decided to make it grow. However, the two mice did not know about each other. Clayton wanted to use the pumpkin for the town's pumpkin contest, and Desmond wanted to use the pumpkin to carve as a jack-o-lantern for Halloween. During the day, Clayton would water and fertilize the pumpkin and his mother suggested using sugar water. During the night, Desmond would water and fertilize the pumpkin and his brother suggested using sugar water. The pumpkin grew to be huge, but one night there was going to be an early frost, and both mice feared that it would harm their pumpkin. Both mice decided to go and cover the pumpkin with a blanket, and for the first time, they met and found out that the other had been taking care of the pumpkin too. They made a deal that Desmond would help get the huge pumpkin to the town contest and that Clayton would allow the pumpkin to be carved for Halloween. The pumpkin did end up winning first prize, and on Halloween night the jack-o-lantern's face glowed brightly for everyone to see.

Personal Rating and Reason for Rating: ****Great! Although this book was published over 20 years ago, the illustrations are bright and I think that young children would find this book entertaining. I think it is neat how the two mice do not know about one another through the entire story, but when they finally do meet, they decide to share the pumpkin and help one another out.

Reading Level: 3.3

Interest Level: K-2

Possible Uses of the Text in Integrated Units of Study: This would be a great book to use during a science unit on pumpkins. This book somewhat shows the life cycle of a pumpkin by telling how it goes from green to orange. This book could also tie in Halloween. Many Halloween books are questionable because they talk about witches and ghosts, which some parents find offensive. This book does not contain any kind of offensive material. This book could also be used to talk about sharing and working together to help others.

Potential Problems or Difficulties: I do not see any problems or difficulties with this book.