Mrs. McMurphy is a sweet lady who lives all by herself on a farm with pigs, cows, and chickens. There's lots to do before Halloween when she finds a large pumpkin with a wicked grin has let itself inside her house. She takes it out, only to find it inside again the next day. Mrs. McMurphy kindly takes it back outside again...and again...and again. When the pumpkin reappears on Halloween, Mrs. McMurphy has a surprise for it that you won't see coming. Check out this frightening tale for some fun seasonal reading.

The Bottom Line: This sweet, but scary picture book with a surprise twist ending is perfect for kids ages 7 - 8 who are just beginning to enjoy a little bit of horror. Illustrator Delana Bettoli created idyllic farm scenes in gouache and acrylic on watercolor paper for this book. Enthusiastically recommended for seasonal reading. NOTE: This review also appears at the Mini Book Bytes Book Review Blog. ( )

Living alone on her farm near the edge of the woods, Mrs. McMurphy tended to her animals with care, and went about her daily chores with a light heart. When a large pumpkin with a wicked grin appeared in her hall four days before Halloween, announcing that when it had teeth it would eat her, Mrs. McMurphy wasn't particularly worried, and put it outside. Each day the pumpkin reappeared in her house, with an additional feature - a nose, ears, eyes - and a continued threat. When Halloween itself came, and the pumpkin appeared with teeth, Mrs. McMurphy was ready, and made very good use of the threatening gourd...

I wasn't sure what I would make of Mrs. McMurphy's Pumpkin, which was my second book from author Rick Walton, following upon his Girl and Gorilla: Out and About, and my first from illustrator Delana Bettoli. The cover artwork here looked sweet, but the story idea sounded spooky. In the end I found that the whole thing just worked, with the charming, seemingly innocent artwork and text serving to make the spooky elements funny rather than frightening. The pumpkin kept threatening Mrs. McMurphy, and she kept chiding it as if it were a truculent toddler, which made me giggle a bit. I can see how the juxtaposition of sweet and scary here might not work for some, but for whatever reason, it tickled my often hard-to-reach funny bone. Leaving aside the story, the illustrations themselves were beautiful, and I'd love to see more of Bettoli's work. Her style would make an excellent accompaniment to a fairy-tale retelling, I would think. As for this one, I'd recommend it to picture-book readers seeking Halloween stories that blend humor and thrills. ( )

Used in Storytime 10/12/17 ( )