Good Things in Small Packages: How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McNamara

Charlie is the smallest kid in the class, and because Mr. Tiffin lines his class up by height, he's always last and least!

But then, "one chilly fall morning," little Charlie arrives at school to find three fine pumpkins, one large sized, one medium, and one, well, rather small pumpkin lined up on the table at the front of the classroom. When Mr. T. challenges his class to guess which one has the most seeds inside, Charlie is too timid even to hazard a guess.

But when the "messy business" of separating the seeds from the slimy stuff inside the three pumpkins is done, there are "three empty pumpkins and three full bowls" of pale yellow seeds to count. Amazingly, it's the smallest pumpkin, by a small margin, which turns out to be the pumpkin with the mostest!

"Small things have a lot going on inside them!" Charlie points out, and Mr. Tiffin agrees, lining the class up smallest to tallest, with Charlie leading the way to lunch.

In her new book, How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? author Margaret McNamara provides a lot of pumpkin science (e.g., pumpkins with a lot of vertical lines have the most seeds), pumpkin math (counting by twos, fives, and tens), with a bit of values learning as well, with the reminder that physical size isn't the whole story--in pumpkins or in people!

Also known for her similarly themed book, The Pumpkin Patch, McNamara is ably supported by the illustrations of G. Brian Karas, (Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!). Their new book comes along just in time to be a worthy addition to older seasonal standbys for pumpkin picking, pumpkin decorating, pumpking carving, and pumpkin pie baking time in the primary grades.