The Secret Life of Pumpkins

Every autumn, pumpkins appear everywhere.In fields. At farm stands. On porches. Beside front doors.But what if the pumpkins have been quietly noticing us too?In The Secret Life of Pumpkins, a patch full of curious pumpkins tries to make sense of the strange human world around them. They listen carefully to the things people say and build their own explanations for everything they see, often with very funny results. They debate whether pumpkins are fruit or vegetables, wonder why some pumpkins are called decorative while others are destined for pie, and struggle to understand the mysterious importance humans place on being Chosen.As the season unfolds, the pumpkins encounter bees, flowers, apples, a black farm cat, competitions, carved faces, dropped pumpkins, and a steady stream of baffling human words such as 'volunteer,' 'heirloom,' and 'giant.' From their place in the patch, they create theories about Pumpkin Season and what may happen beyond the farm, even though none of them really knows what lies outside the rows they have always called home.Then the patch begins to empty.One by one, the pumpkins leave, until a single pumpkin remains. When that last pumpkin is finally chosen, the world suddenly becomes much larger than anything it had imagined. For the first time, it sees roads, houses, a city, an apartment, and a very different kind of cat.Warm, whimsical, and gently funny, The Secret Life of Pumpkins is an autumn tale about curiosity, assumptions, and the strange ways we try to understand a world we can only see from where we happen to be standing. It is a cozy short read for adults who enjoy seasonal fiction, light humor, and stories that look at ordinary things from an unexpected point of view.