How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow?

Halloween is a day that sets imaginations spinning, and Minor encourages some pumpkin-themed thought experiments of his own—while boosting kids’ vocabularies and giving them a brief tour of the U.S. to boot. Minor’s dramatic gouache and watercolor paintings take center stage as he asks readers to consider the possibilities of a nation full of giant pumpkins. “Your gigantic pumpkin could glow like the skyscrapers,” he writes as a smiley jack-o’-lantern perches on the Brooklyn Bridge; “Would your giant pumpkin be boss in a jumbo cowboy hat?” he continues as a pumpkin with star-shaped eye holes nestles among Texas oil rigs. A picture book as American as pumpkin pie. Ages 3–5. (Aug.)