Stumpkin

PreS-Gr 3--What does every self-respecting pumpkin aspire to be? A jack o' lantern, of course. Stumpkin is big and round and "orange as a traffic cone"; he's full of promise, except for one minor flaw--he has no stem. Still, as Halloween approaches, he sits expectantly on his shelf outside a bodega waiting for someone to take him home, carve him up, and place him in their window. One by one, the windows in the building across the street fill up with smiling jack o' lanterns as the number of pumpkins on display in front of his shop dwindles. Finally, "Two were left on the shopkeeper's shelf. A boy came. And when the boy left...Stumpkin remained. The gourd Thought Stumpkin. I guess that's that." What will become of this poor, stemless pumpkin? After a tense few pages featuring a prominent trash can, a spread of pure black and some mysterious triangles, the shopkeeper comes up with the perfect solution. The illustrations, rendered in gouache, pencil, ink, and brush marker, feature a palette of black, white, orange, and a touch of green, while the people are all represented in black silhouette. Baby carriages, dogs on leashes, subway stations, streetlights, and fire hydrants capture a busy urban neighborhood. VERDICT A perfect holiday read-aloud for city kids and country dwellers as well.--Barbara Auerbach, formerly at New York City Public Schools

Stumpkin is a beautiful pumpkin, "as orange as... an orange! As big as a basketball! Round!" All he lacks is a stem--but people want stems on their Halloween jack-o'-lanterns. Cummins (A Hungry Lion, or A Dwindling Assortment of Animals) paints Stumpkin looking concerned as, one by one, the other pumpkins are bought, carved, and displayed in apartment windows facing the store. Even the warty gourd gets bought. Stumpkin's philosophical attitude softens the sting (" 'The gourd ' thought Stumpkin, 'I guess that's that' "), and the portrayal of buyers as silhouettes helps, too--readers don't see the customers' faces or hear what they say. Stories about being left behind usually include just enough distress to set the stage, but here the ordeal continues for many pages, heightening the story's stakes as Halloween looms large. Amid the black-stroked subway signs and storefronts of a cozy Brooklyn block, Stumpkin survives his ordeal, and a final, brilliantly inventive visual sequence reveals what it's like to be a jack-o'-lantern from the inside out. Ages 4-8. (July)