Review: Brilliant, Didn't Even Know It Was a Picture Book When Downloaded It!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 8, 2012
I try not to read anything about a book if it's by an author I'm familiar with before downloading or reading, so actually had no idea this was a picture book, I'd assumed it was a horror short story.  Obviously all picture books are short stories and this one has a mild horror theme to it so I was somewhat right, but I was pleasantly surprised to have something with great colourful illustrations as well.  Duncan the Punkin is basically the tale of a pumpkin whose mother warns it to stay still and pretend its dead so it doesn't get picked when the farmer is selecting which pumpkins to harvest.  Of course when a scarecrow gets sick of it's everyday routine Duncan's ability to follow its mother's advice will be tested.  Along the way there is some brilliant descriptive (although still child friendly) imagination scenes told by the mother of what happens to pumpkins who don't listen to the rules of survival.  I'm not sure why Scott Nicholson and Sergio Castro decided to misspell pumpkin and it doesn't really add anything to the story, it is deliberate though they acknowledge it on the final page.  All up the book will take you a couple of minutes to get through, but you will spend longer than that admiring the great artwork on each page.I had no idea Scott Nicholson even wrote picture books, but after enjoying this so much I'll definitely check out the other two he has also written.