Mr. Pumpkin's Tea Party

by Erin Barker

Overview

"There’s a party at Mr. Pumpkin’s tonight. A banquet with friends in the autumn twilight. And at this soiree we’ll see and we’ll find ghoulish delights of every kind.” You are cordially invited to Mr. Pumpkin’s Tea Party—a delightfully quirky twist on a counting book, incorporating gorgeous, deep-hued watercolor illustrations, as well as spooky elements and unique characters at an unexpectedly charming tea party. A perfect read for when there is a crisp chill in the air.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781936669776
Publisher:	blue manatee press
Publication date:	09/03/2019
Edition description:	None
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Erin Barker is an author and illustrator who loves Swedish Fish, rollerblading, and making up weird characters for her stories. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, and this is her first picture book.

Editorial Reviews

09/02/2019

The characters in this seasonal counting book are all traditionally spooky sorts—a spider named Madam Silk, a mummy called Dr. Cairo, and more—but the scariest thing they have in store is attending Mr. Pumpkin’s elegant evening tea party. He offers “one cake”; Sir Bones, a formally dressed skeleton, contributes “two jugs of cider”; a vampire dressed as a flapper offers “three jars of jelly to share”; and neighborhood wildlife get in on the act, too (“four swooping bats/ fly through the air”). Newcomer Barker’s watercolor and ink illustrations provide the softest of Halloween atmospherics: gentle night, full moon, weeping willow. Formal wear (Baron Laguna sports a bowtie), tidy tea etiquette, and delicious homemade goodies—Mr. Pumpkin’s berry-topped cake, Lord Wolfington’s scones—portray this Halloween celebration as a quiet, stylish gathering framed by the counting sequence and the rhyming lines. Just right for fear-averse Halloween revelers. Ages 3–5. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Barker’s illustrations are a delight, the spooky details softened by a cartoonish treatment and soft color palette; nothing here is threatening or too scary." —Kirkus Reviews


"The guest list may seem spooky with a skeleton, wolf, spider, and swamp monster in attendance, but Mr. Pumpkin’s tea party is a frightfully elegant affair." —Foreword Reviews

From the Publisher

2019-07-14
A rhyming Halloween seek-and-find book gives readers some practice counting from one to 13 (natch).

"There's a party at Mr. Pumpkin's tonight, / a banquet with friends in autumn twilight. / And at this soirée we'll see and we'll find / ghoulish delights of every kind." The host himself contributes a beautifully decorated cake, and each of the seven guests brings increasing numbers of treats to the table, from Sir Bones' two jugs of cider to Baron Laguna's 12 balloons. Bats, cups of tea, and singing frogs round out the counting, which ends with the clock striking 13 and the end of the party. Barker's illustrations are a delight, the spooky details softened by a cartoonish treatment and soft color palette; nothing here is threatening or too scary. But the text doesn't live up to the artwork. The clever character names are sure to go over the heads of readers still interested in finding and counting items in the pictures, and scansion and meaning sometimes take a back seat to the rhythm and rhyme. As a result, the word order can be confusing for young children: "Follow six lamps— / to the house they will lead."

Visually sparkling—but with a text that doesn't always suit the audience. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews