Pumpkin Day in this rabbit family entails a visit to a local farm where they learn about the fruit's life cycle, care, varieties, and other pumpkin lore couched in a somewhat forced story line. The clear and colorful cut-paper collage illustrations are the main attraction here, and pumpkin recipes included throughout add to the book's usefulness. From HORN BOOK Spring 2003, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

K-Gr 2-One fall day, a rabbit family visits Pumpkin Hollow Farm to select pumpkins for cooking, decorating, and carving. Facts and riddles appear on signs scattered throughout the stand. Mrs. Bell, who works there, keeps pictures in her pocket that demonstrate how the gourds grow, and she shows them to the curious bunnies. Later, back at home, the family carves jack-o'-lanterns before enjoying a supper of "pumpkin muffins, toasted pumpkin seeds sprinkled on salad, and for dessert, pumpkin pie!" Recipes appear on lined, illustrated cards. The characters, created from cut-paper collages and placed on colorful backgrounds, are eye-catching and endearing. Children will love poring over the details and absorbing the information that has been expertly woven into the artwork. A superb blending of fiction and nonfiction.-Melinda Piehler, North Tonawanda Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

PreS.^-Gr. 2. The Rabbit family, who had so much fun in Apples! Apples! Apples! (2000), now spends a day picking, eating, and carving pumpkins. The day starts with pumpkin pancakes, and then it's off to the pumpkin farm. Mrs. Bell, the owner, takes the family on a tour, pointing out the different types of pumpkins and explaining how they grow and get their color. The day ends with more fun and food as the pumpkins become jack-o-lanterns, the seeds are baked, and pumpkin muffins complete the dinner. Although there are many other books on the topic, this one stands apart because of its simple, yet dynamic collage artwork and the quality and quantity of information that is tucked into the text in all sorts of interesting ways. Signposts in the pumpkin field offer factoids, riddles, and miniquizzes. Small square pictures grouped on a page lead children through the life cycle of the pumpkin. There are also recipes with rebus-like touches that make directions easier for children. The origami-and-paper collages placed against pure backgrounds are the best Wallace has done to date, and that's saying something. The spreads--whether showing the family at a pumpkin stand or a pumpkin seed growing into a vine--will fascinate and charm kids. --Ilene Cooper

A rabbit family visits a farm and learns how the gourd grows, discovers its different varieties and uncovers a bit of jack-o'-lantern history ("In olden times, they hollowed out potatoes and turnips and beets for lanterns") in Pumpkin Day! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. Her signature collage spreads starring bunny characters feature factoids and pumpkin jokes throughout-plus recipes. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

A cheerful excuse for a seasonal story with Wallace's (Count Down to Clean Up, 2001, etc.) paper-cut collages, a bit of science, a dab of folklore, and several rather bland recipes. Another of her bunny families sets off for Pumpkin Hollow Farm one day in late October to pick pumpkins to make into jack-o'-lanterns. At the farm the owner takes photos from her pocket to answer questions about how pumpkins grow from seed to flower to fruit. In the patch itself are signs that offer jokes as well as facts like "Pumpkins are healthy food. They provide vitamins a, B-1, B-2, and niacin-calcium and iron, too." The rabbit children examine and exclaim over a variety of pumpkins, select the ones they want, come home to scoop them out and carve them, and celebrate with a dinner of pumpkin muffins ("Buy pumpkin bread mix and follow the directions. Add 1/4 cup of canned pumpkin"), toasted pumpkin seeds, and pumpkin pie. A simple introduction to the fruit, for pre-schools and early childhood classes with an inviting yellow and gold cover. (Picture book. 3-6)