Fall is a magical time of crunchy leaves, crisp breezes with warm sunshine, bonfires, cider, harvest festivals, and all things pumpkin.
We love to snuggle up under blankets in the mornings and evenings with fun story books.
These pumpkin-themed books are perfect for fall!
Favorite Pumpkin Books:
Pumpkin Soup
Deep in the woods in an old white cabin, three friends make their pumpkin soup the same way every day. The Cat slices up the pumpkin, the Squirrel stirs in the water, and the Duck tips in just enough salt. But one day the Duck wants to stir instead, and then there is a horrible squabble, and he leaves the cabin in a huff. It isn’t long before the Cat and the Squirrel start to worry about him and begin a search for their friend. Rendered in pictures richly evoking autumn, Helen Cooper’s delightful story will resonate for an child who has known the difficulties that come with friendship. Included at the end is a recipe for delicious pumpkin soup.
Pumpkin Moonshine
It’s almost Halloween, and little Sylvie Ann has found the biggest, fattest pumpkin in the patch! But before she can carve it into pumpkin moonshine (also known as a jack-o’-lantern), she must get the pumpkin home.
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
It’s Halloween night, which means costumes, trick-or-treating, bobbing for apples…and waiting for the Great Pumpkin. Linus is certain that the Great Pumpkin will rise out of the pumpkin patch to bring toys to all the children of the world. Could this be the year that it finally happens?
The Pumpkin Patch Parable
This charming story for children illustrates how a loving farmer can turn a simple pumpkin into a simply glorious sight. In the same way, God’s transforming love can fill each of our hearts with joy and light. Liz Curtis Higgs created this parable as a way to share the Good News with her own precious children each harvest season . . . and now with children everywhere.
Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie
Pumpkins! Who can resist the sight of big, round, orange pumpkins ripening in a field? Children piling off school buses to pick one out. Carving out funny faces, smiles, or scary frowns to illuminate Halloween doorsteps. Making room for that last piece of pumpkin pie after a delicious Thanksgiving feast. In this book, pumpkins aren’t just a fruit, they’re a symbol, a scent, a flavor of the entire season.
Pumpkin Jack
The first pumpkin Tim ever carved was fierce and funny, and he named it Jack. When Halloween was over and the pumpkin was beginning to rot, Tim set it out in the garden and throughout the weeks he watched it change.
The Biggest Pumpkin Ever
Once there were two mice who fell in love with the same pumpkin….
Desmond the field mouse wants to carve the biggest jack-o’-lantern in the neighborhood with his pumpkin. Clayton the house mouse wants to win the Biggest Pumpkin contest with his. But when they discover that their choice pumpkins are actually the same one, Desmond and Clayton decide to work together to grow the biggest pumpkin ever!
The Pumpkin Book
How they grow, their traditional uses and cultural significance.
Too Many Pumpkin
With countless unwelcome pumpkins to deal with, Rebecca Estelle turns disaster into a celebration. One day, years and years later, white-haired Rebecca was busy not eating pumpkins when–SPLAT–a giant pumpkin fell off an overloaded truck and smashed into her yard. She buried the mess so she wouldn’t have to look at it, and, as you might imagine, she witnessed a bumper crop the following fall.
Pumpkin Circle
Bouncy verse and glowing photographs show a backyard pumpkin patch move through its natural cycle — a bug’¬?s eye and a bird’s high view of seeds sprouting, flowers blooming, bees buzzing, pumpkins growing . . .and then going back to earth. An author’s note explains how to grow your own pumpkin.
Pumpkin Pumpkin
Jamie plants a pumpkin seed in the spring and, after watching it grow all summer, carves a face in it for Halloween! But best of all, he saves some seeds that he will plant again next spring.
How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow?
Every year, giant pumpkin contests take place at fairs across the country—the 2012 record-holder weighed over a ton! The latest craze is to carve the most enormous pumpkins into racing boats. But what’s next? Why not think really big? Award-winning artist Wendell Minor does just that as he imagines larger-than-life pumpkins decorating some of America’s favorite places—as immense as the Capitol dome, Mount Rushmore, the Brooklyn Bridge, even the Grand Canyon! This celebration of famous landmarks and landscapes plays with concepts of size and scale and is full of fun facts.
The Roll-Away Pumpkin
On a windy autumn day, Marla Little comes running down the hill, yelling, “Help! My giant pumpkin is rolling away! Onward it goes, rolling and turning, with no sign of stopping! Diddle-dee-doo! Oh, what shall I do?”
A little girl chases her giant pumpkin all over town with some help along the way. It’s the perfect autumn bedtime story to read with your little pumpkin.
The Very Best Pumpkin
Growing up on Mimi and Papa’s farm, Peter knows a lot about caring for pumpkins. One summer Peter finds a lonely pumpkin all by itself in the field, and with his tender care, the pumpkin flourishes. By autumn, it’s the very best pumpkin of all, and Peter wants to keep it for himself. But when a young girl shows up at the farm in quest of a perfect pumpkin, will Peter pass on his prized pumpkin and gain a friend?
Pumpkin Town
What happens when a town has an accidental abundance of pumpkins? What do José and his well-intentioned brothers do with a mountain of pumpkins? An EXPLOSION of pumpkins? Step into Pumpkin Town and see!
As a teacher, Katie McKy saw many children make mistakes. She also saw many children want to make their wrongs right.
As a gardener, Katie once planted too many pumpkin seeds. She was that a good thing can be a bad thing when the vines start to grow every which way.
A Pumpkin Prayer
Colorful pumpkins, crunching leaves, crisp breezes―celebrate the abundance of the harvest season through charming illustrations and sweet rhymes that are perfect for young hearts.
The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin
What’s going on in the pumpkin patch? Well, a very unusual pumpkin has hatched. While all others are round, Spookley is square. He’s not like his friends-they have curves, he has ends. And so everyone teases him, night and day.
But just before Halloween, the weather turns stormy. Winds toss the round pumpkins to and fro, and off they go, crashing and bashing and smashing–except Spookley. Can he, with his square little body, save the day?
The Ugly Pumpkin
The Ugly Pumpkin has waited all through October for someone to take him home, but no one wants him. He doesn’t look like other pumpkins. So the lonely Ugly Pumpkin leaves the patch in search of a place where he’ll fit in. By the time Thanksgiving arrives, he discovers the truth about who he is–but it’s not what he expected!
Pumpkin Patch Blessings
The sweet rhyming text by Kim Washburn and whimsical illustrations by Jacqueline East bring autumn alive for readers young and old as they take in the fun of the fall season and remember how much they have to be grateful for.
Pumpkins
Did you know pumpkins have been around for 11,000 years? Or that the biggest pumpkin on record weighed over 1,300 pounds? Learn all about pumpkins—where they come from, how to grow them, and more—in this informative book that’s guaranteed to squash the competition. Recipes, fun facts, and resources round out the text.
The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin
A fat little, round little, yellow little pumpkin dreams of growing up to be fierce and frightening, just like the scarecrow in the field. Then one day in autumn, when he has grown big and fat, the fierce yellow pumpkin gets the chance to become terrific and terrible.
The Vanishing Pumpkin
When a 700-year-old woman and an 800-year-old man want to make pumpkin pie on Halloween, they can’t find their pumpkin. “Our pumpkin’s been snitched,” cries the woman. And off they go to find it.
The Itsy Bitsy Pumpkin
A little pumpkin is trying to find his way back home! And with a little help from a friendly witch, he is soon safe and sound, back on his porch—where there are no spiders to be seen!
The Pumpkin Runner
“Nearly all the sheep ranchers in Blue Gum Valley rode horses or drove jeeps to check on their sheep. But Joshua Summerhayes liked to run…with Yellow Dog trailing behind him.” So it’s no surprise when Joshua decides to enter a race from Melbourne to Sydney. People laugh when old Joshua shows up in his overalls and gumboots, calmly nibbling a slice of pumpkin for energy. But then he pulls into the lead, and folks are forced to sit up and take notice. Inspired by a true event (and just in time for fall’s pumpkin harvest!) a talented team introduces a humble and generous hero who knows that winning isn’t always the reason to run a race.
This is NOT a Pumpkin
It
may
be round like
a pumpkin and even orange
like a pumpkin, but this is NOT
a pumpkin! If it’s not a pumpkin,
then what is it?
So cute!
Oh my, so many pumpkin books to choose from. I love picture books and have read a ton with my kids, but you mentioned so many I haven’t seen. What a great list. Thanks.
And yes, to wrapping up in blankets!
That’s a lot of pumpkin books. Thanks for sharing!
What a great book of pumpkin stories.