Five little pumpkins

PreS-K-In this board-book version of the popular rhyme, the opening spread takes readers to the patch where five pumpkins of various sizes and shapes sit on a gate. Their expressions give each one a unique personality. With the exception of one phrase, the text remains close to the usual wording of this traditional finger play. Instead of calling out "but we don't care," the third little pumpkin says, "Good folk, beware!" To keep with the nighttime setting, Mantle uses a range of blues and purples, and the pumpkins easily stand out in the dark backgrounds. Grandmotherly-looking witches fly in the air as their brooms leave behind a stream of tiny stars. Children will notice other eye-catching details, including the spotted green moon, frog with a pointy hat, red-eyed black spiders, and purple cat. The concluding page's yellow green sky lets readers know that morning is approaching. The spreads are not as cluttered as those in Iris Van Rynback's Five Little Pumpkins (Boyds Mills, 1995), and the pumpkins have friendlier personalities in comparison to those in Dan Yaccarino's Five Little Pumpkins (HarperFestival, 1998). While other versions of this seasonal rhyme exist, this one is fresh and comical.-Lynn K. Vanca, Akron-Summit County Public Library, Richfield, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.