Reading Wednesday | Patient for Pumpkins

Happy Reading Wednesday!

I don’t know about you but in our house we spend hours everyday reading books and 90% of the time they are children’s books. That being said we have decided to start a new weekly feature that allows us to share what we are currently reading. Some weeks we will feature one book, other weeks a selection of our favorites and occasionally Neil and I will also share the books we are reading.

This week I wanted to feature a book we read at least once per day and all three of us really love it.

This Week’s Featured Book: Patient for Pumpkins – Story and Illustrations by Linda L. Knoll

Mini description of this book via North Atlantic Books:

Seasonal fruits, vegetables, and other produce from local farms play an important part of a healthy, ethical diet. Encouraging children to eat local food in harmony with the seasons, Patient for Pumpkins tells the story of T.J., a boy who accompanies his father to the farmers’ market and enjoys the changes in fruits and vegetables as the year progresses. Families looking to introduce the concept of seasonal availability of produce to young children will be delighted by this children’s book by Linda L. Knoll, a lifelong resident of Northern California who is a professionally trained artist with a teaching credential.

Read the full description here.

Why we love this book: We are avid farmers market goers and this book seems to have really helped Edith to get excited about our market trips. The book is also filled with a variety of fruits and vegetables that are based on the season and while at this point Edith doesn’t quite understand seasonal produce she is constantly being re-introduced to produce that we buy and/or see at the farmers market or grocery store. I love that she can point out fruits and vegetables as we go through the book.

While this book is geared towards a little bit older child it is still fun for us to read with Edith has the beautiful photos keep her interested. It is also a book that we will continue to read for years and as she grows older the way in which we read and utilize the book will change. For example as you read the book there is a column on the side that describes the stage of growth of the pumpkin at that specific month and right now we pass over this because it’s a little above Edith’s understanding but when she gets a little older we can draw her attention more to this and the steps it takes for a pumpkin to grow from May to October.

Another feature we will take advantage of when she is a bit older is the list of fruits, veggies and local products that one might find at their local farmers market. When she is able to communicate verbally a little more with us I plan to take the list with us and do a little scavenger hunt at the farmers market to find the items on our list. We will then purchase a few of the items and bring them home to try.

Age Range: 4 – 8 years (although Edith is in LOVE with this book and she is 22 months)
Grade Level: Preschool – 3
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: North Atlantic Books (April 22, 2014)

Photo Credit: Linda Knoll via this site.

Disclaimer: We received this book for review from North Atlantic Books.  As always all opinions are our own and we genuinely LOVE this book. Also this post includes Amazon Affiliates link.