Perfect Pumpkin Pie
Kindergarten-Grade 3–The talented and prolific Cazet scores again. It's Halloween night, and when Mrs. Wilkerson tells her grouchy husband that there won't be any pie in the afterlife, he declares, Then I ain't goin'! Then he keels over face down in the pie pan, dead with a fork in his hand. His wife buries him in the pumpkin patch, moves away, and that's that. Or is it? Of course not. A boy and his grandmother move into the house and are visited on the next Halloween by a wonderfully earthy ghost (with a fork sticking out of his brain and a removable eyeball) who is in search of the perfect pumpkin pie. This tale makes a great read-aloud, complete with the catchy refrain: Pumpkins, pumpkins,/pumpkin pie!/I must have one/before I die./It must be round/and brown as toast,/or I'll haunt this house/a hungry ghost. The watercolor cartoons are dynamic and funny, bursting with details that kids will love (the ghost makes his exits in a swirl of chaotic lines filled with baking utensils). Even if your holiday shelves are crowded, make room for this one.–Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, ILCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.