3 Bold, clear watercolor illustrations and a concise text work together to explain the planting, cultivating, and harvesting of pumpkins. Gibbons includes a description of their traditional use by the Pilgrims and at Halloween. Directions for carving are provided with cautionary reminders about knives and candle safety along with alternate ways to decorate a pumpkin using a variety of materials found in most homes. A page of interesting facts about the history of pumpkins, their nutritional value, pollination, and instructions for drying seeds to eat is appended. Gibbons succeeds once again at covering a topic in a useful way at just the right level for beginning readers. This book provides more detail than Jeanne Titherington's Pumpkin, Pumpkin (Greenwillow, 1986), and will be a welcome addition to fall study units. Cheryl Cufari, Glencliff Elementary School, Niskayuna, NY Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.