Pumpkins: A Story for a Field

From Publishers Weekly
Human industriousness saves the day-and the land-in this ecological cautionary tale. When a man discovers that the beloved field across the way is for sale, he goes to great lengths to protect it from developers. When selling all his possessions fails to yield sufficient cash, the man plants a huge patch of pumpkins in the plot. The bountiful harvest enables him to purchase the field, and to keep it in its natural state. Ray's text puts forth a noble premise and a pleasing ending, but its logic makes a slight misstep when it ventures into the fantastic: the man decides to send the pumpkins-via truck, plane and magic carpet-all over the world for sale, rather than completing the transactions closer to home. The author's underlying sense of urgency effectively demonstrates the importance of conservation, and may even have a motivational effect on readers. Root's watereolor and gouache paintings emit a predominantly orange glow, and the expanse of the scenes clearly renders the field and its crop as the true stars here. The gentle play of light and shadow on the horizon lends a becoming sense of serenity. Even the Great Pumpkin himself would be pleased. All ages. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
This is a story about a field and a man who loved it enough to do something to save it from development. “Based on the author’s personal efforts to protect the land, this story broadcasts a deliberate and timely environmental message that, like the intentionally nameless protagonist, anyone can make a difference. Aglow in harvest tones, Root’s strong watercolor and gouache paintings heighten the story’s magic.”--Booklist



Card catalog description
A man harvests and sells a bountiful crop of pumpkins so that he will be able to preserve the field from developers.


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Any time of year is a good time for an ecological tale, especially when fun is prominent and didacticism is missing. Ray's Pumpkins has at its center a man with a large heart who loves a field and cries when he views development on the horizon. The man and the land together decide to grow pumpkins and the man devises a wild and wonderful scheme to promote pumpkins all over the world. They succeed and so does the book with the soft orange hues of Root's art and the messages that come from the man and the land rather than the author.


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