Cummins, Lucy Ruth. (2018). Stumpkin. Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
One day, little girl came and picked up a pumpkin from the shopkeeper’s shelf and carried it away. The other pumpkins (and gourd) were worried about what was going to happen to their friend.
Until, they saw him with two carved eyes, a nose and a toothy grin in the window of an apartment home across the street. He was a jack-o-lantern!!
Now they all wanted to be Jack-o-lanterns and go home with someone to sit on the windowsill with a toothy grin. But in the middle of all of this daydreaming, one of the pumpkins had a terrible thought.
It realized that it was the only pumpkin (or gourd) with no stem, just a stump…thus the name “Stumpkin.” Suddenly, it worried about its chances of being taken home or ever becoming a jack-o-lantern.
Stumpkin was sad, especially as one by one the other pumpkins were picked first.
Then one day, Stumpkin thought it was finally its turn! Sadly, it was not to be.
Finally, it was the day of Halloween and even the gourd was chosen before Stumpkin, though he was round, and large and beautifully orange. It felt so unfair. Then the shopkeeper picked him up, brought him inside and he realized…
Stumpkin wasn’t going to sit in a window in someone’s home. He already had a home, and that was just fine with him
Stumpkin teaches us patience, persistence, acceptance, self-worth and really, that ever pumpkin deserves to fulfill its little Halloween destiny. I know everybody has their own criteria for the perfect pumpkin, but maybe one year, think of Stumpkin and how even the “perfect” pumpkin might just look a little different, and will still be perfectly wonderful.
Happy Halloween!
Recommended Ages: 3-7
