THE PESKY PROBLEM

In Garcia’s illustrated children’s book, the residents of a pumpkin patch team up to outwit their corvid attackers.

In this story, pumpkins find themselves tormented by a group of crows, but they find a way to defend themselves and protect their patch. The birds, led by Corvus, avoid the nearby cornfield, which is protected by a scarecrow (“Don’t you remember, feather-brains? We can’t harass the cornfield anymore. It has the most horrendous monster lurking in its midst!” Corvus says to his underling). However, the feathered fiends delight in making themselves as annoying as possible to Fairytale Pumpkin, Knucklehead, Warty Goblin, and their fellow pumpkin neighbors. (They’re all named for real pumpkin varieties, and the book’s back matter provides more detail on their idiosyncrasies.) The pumpkins decide that the time has come for them to fight back, but they disagree over strategy. Fairytale leads a mission to ask the corn to share their scarecrow, but the vegetables are not about to give up their defense. This comes as no surprise to Warty Goblin, whose objections Fairytale rudely overrode. After she returns from the cornfield and apologizes, he organizes the pumpkins into a scarecrow of their own, which effectively chases Corvus and company out of the patch for good. There are several fine lessons in the text, involving the value of mutual aid; the importance of forgiving others, rather than nursing resentments; and the need to listen to wise elders. All are rendered with welcome subtlety. Knoetze and De Vries’ full-color cartoon illustrations do an excellent job of bringing the text to life, relating the motions and emotions of the anthropomorphized but still plantlike pumpkins. The crows aren’t the most compelling villains—they seek only to make themselves a nuisance, rather than anything deeper—but Garcia turns them into a necessary obstacle for the pumpkins to overcome, and she delivers a satisfying resolution. Young readers will enjoy seeing the bullies get their comeuppance and they’re likely to find the book visually appealing, as well.

An engaging and enjoyably illustrated tale of characters uniting to defeat an obnoxious opponent.