Did Someone Say Pie? Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin Pie by Jill Esbaum

HAVE YOU PICKED YOUR PUMPKIN?

Whether you "pick" your pumpkin from your own backyard, the local pumpkin patch, or from the display at your favorite grocery store, that jolly orange orb is THE symbol of fall, a fine fruit which nurtured the founding fathers' families, which as our beloved Jack-o'-lantern inherited the English tradition of scary, carved vegetable lanterns, and a versatile vegetable that appears as a staple of our Thanksgiving table.

Jill Esbaum's Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie (Picture the Seasons) (National Geographic Kids) takes the young reader from the spring day when those rounded pumpkin seeds go into the ground through the first sprouting, the vines which leaf out in their characteristic curlicues, the gorgeous pumpkin flowers that bloom in summer, and the tiny green balls that increase rapidly into the giant globes we know and love.

THE PUMPKIN IS A KIND OF SQUASH.

THEY CAN BE GREEN, RED, TAN, YELLOW, WHITE, OR EVEN BLUE.

THERE ARE TALL PUMPKINS, SHORT PUMPKINS, SMOOTH OR BUMPY PUMPKINS.

WEE ONES ONLY INCHES WIDE, OR GIANTS YOU CAN SIT INSIDE.

Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie (Picture the Seasons) is filled with National Geographic's trademark full-color photographs of pumpkins--pumpkins growing, pumpkins harvested, pumpkins carved in many ways, and the delicious foods prepared from the pumpkin's flesh and its delectable seeds, even pumpkins carved into actual boats!

In easy-to-read minimal text, the author even shows the annual Jack-o'-lantern makers how to prepare the seeds as a snack or dry them for planting themselves for a showy landscaping plant with a golden bonus, not to mention fodder for animals or the useful composting material that Jacks past their prime provide for gardens. The book ends with a poignant photo of a pumpkin patch receiving its blanket of winter snow, showing that the traditional pumpkin is indeed a plant for all seasons.