Pumpkin Moonshine

Halloween is coming, and Sylvie Ann wants to make a pumpkin moonshine (or jack-o'-lantern), so she sets out across her Grandmummy and Grandpawp's cornfields to find "the very finest and largest pumpkin." Once she finds it, the problem is how to get it home. This fine, large pumpkin is so big, Sylvie Ann can't carry it. So she rolls it across the field, like a snowball in winter, until she reaches the edge of the field where the ground slopes down. And suddenly, the pumpkin begins running away down the hill! Can Sylvie catch it before it frightens the goats, terrifies the hens, enrages the geese, and bumps into Mr. Hemmelskamp who is carrying a pail full of whitewash?

Those who don't know the denouement to this more than 60-year-old classic by two-time Caldecott Honor artist Tasha Tudor will not be surprised to find a happy ending to this exquisite, gentle story. Tudor's delicate orange-framed watercolors of a rural autumn and a bonneted little girl speak to a softer side of Halloween--one that is not overtaken by werewolves, blood, and gore, but is a reminder of the season in all its fresh abundance. Tasha Tudor has over 90 books to her credit, including The Dolls' Christmas and Caldecott Honor book, 1 Is One. (Ages 4 to 8) --Emilie Coulter