Pumpkin Countdown is a hardcover, jacketed, 32-page, interactive children’s book best suited for the preschool/early elementary ages. With its vibrant pictures and alliterative characters, it is sure to engage the kids. Ms. Blue’s class is heading to Farmer Mixenmatch’s pumpkin patch on a field trip. While preparing for, getting to, and spending time at the pumpkin patch there are many things to count and learn about.

This book can be used simply as a read aloud, but with all of the math and science introduced, it can very easily be used to build a theme unit around. The pages are a countdown from 20 to 1 and many things are counted along the way. For example, the number twelve talks about twelve pets in the petting zoo. Other math concepts touched on are addition, subtraction, multiplication, and skip counting. There are science facts about pumpkins within the pages, as well as on the inside covers of the book, including how a pumpkin grows and types of pumpkins.

My kids, ages 4 and 5, enjoyed the book and we read through it many times. It was fun for them to look through the pages and associate the pictures with our trips to the pumpkin patch as a family, since they are homeschooled, and not as a class. I liked that there were opportunities for further teaching in a fun real life way.

Product Review by Julie Campbell, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, January, 2013