Pumpkins
By: Jacqueline Farmer
Illustrated by: Phyllis Limbacher Tildes
This book was adorable, and would be perfect to use in younger classrooms. The book talks about several different kinds of pumpkins and how they are most often used. It shares how other cultures use pumpkins on holidays and in every day life. The book talks about how pumpkins are grown and how many farmers grow in a year. My favorite part of this book was the two stories on why pumpkins are used on Halloween. It then goes into how to carve a pumpkin with the help of an adult and the different foods you can make with the insides of a pumpkin. It gives several different pumpkin recipes in the back, and the translation of pumpkin in many different languages.
PUMKIN
Italy - zucca (ZOOK-ka)
Japan - kabocha (kah-boh-cha)
Mexico - calabaza (kah-lah-BAH-sa)
Russia - tykva (TEEK-va)
China - nangua (NAHN-gwah)
Germany - Kurbis (KYEER-bis)
Turkey - balkabagi (BAHL-kah-bah)
France - citrouille (sit-ROO-yuh)
Iran - kadu tanbal (KA-doo TAN-bal)
The Netherlands - pompoen (pom-PEHN)
Sweden - pumpa (POOM-pa)
Brazil - abobora (ah-BOH-boo-rah)
I really enjoyed reading through this book, and it would be great to use to teach history of other cultures or cook food with pumpkins. I think young kids would really be able to get into this book if you make it interactive.
How to carve a pumpkin video:
Sorry for giving you crap about this not being a multi cultural book :P
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really cool and helpful book, especially with it being fall and around Halloween. This is a good book to help bring in how different cultures celebrate the same or similar holidays, and could be a really good discussion with the kids about how their families do things.
You could even use this as a jumping off point for a project where the kids have to show the class how their family celebrates a holiday, or have them do a research project about a holiday they don't celebrate.
Wow, what a great job. This book was really hard for me to read throught but you kept it so basic. I really like the way the author includes the different ways to say pumpkin. There are a lot of good ideas that could lead to amazing classroom experiences. I would like to hear the way pumpkin sounds in the other languages.
ReplyDeleteI would love to use this book for my class during fall! I think that it is a great way to welcome the new season and Halloween coming up. It could be used as a discussion starter of the different holidays the kids celebrate them with their own families. This book shows how so many different cultures have different recipes using a pumpkin. The kids can share what kind of foods they eat during the holidays.
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