The Ugly Pumpkin

by Dave Horowitz

With looks different than all the others in the pumpkin patch, Ugly Pumpkin is teased by his peers and never gets picked throughout the whole season, but after he leaves the patch and heads out on his own, Ugly Pumpkin discovers that he is special in his own way and ends up becoming the star of a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration!

Genres: Picture Books, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Childrens, Holiday, Storytime, Food

40 pages, Hardcover

First published August 18, 2005

About the author

My name is dave horowitz. I grew up in Smithtown, New York in the 1970s. Instead of paying attention in school I drew pictures of my teachers. Then I went to a famous art college in Rhode Island and studied coloring.

In 1992 I graduated and went to Oregon to play drums and drink coffee. Then I moved to New York City and worked next door to the Twin Towers. Then I learned how to climb rocks and got fired.

Then I climbed rocks.

I moved up to the Hudson Valley and then to California and then to New Hampshire and then back to the Hudson Valley. Then I got a job as a “professional” rock climber. Then I got too old for that.

I still live in the Hudson Valley where I write and illustrate picture books. Also, I'm a paramedic. So far so good…

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute retelling of 'the Ugly Duckling' with pumpkins and squash. This book also spans Halloween and Thanksgiving so it's great for both seasons.

Poor Pumpkin doesn't get to go home for the Halloween season and it despairs. It feels so ugly and seeks somewhere to belong. Then it meets other weird looking squash and finds a place where it belongs at the Thanksgiving table. Great story.

Of course, this is the crazy kind of character my nephew loves and he gave this book a 5 stars. He thought it was cool. The niece thought this was ok saying "it really is ugly" and giving it 3 stars.

Still, that longing for a place to belong makes a powerful story, even if it is an ugly pumpkin. I thought this was fun.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter and I read this every Halloween and I think it is simply the most adorable book for children!

[Kirk · Rating 2 out of 5]

That about sums this one up, but I'll provide a rationale:

The Ugly Pumpkin is a (non) harrowing tale about a squash who thinks its a pumpkin trapped in the body of a squash. Nobody gives two shits about his plight, and he suffers abuse at the hands of an old crab apple tree. Nobody gives much of a shit about that, and you won't either. At least the author gave us a heaping pile to compensate for the apathy of the characters in the book. That's the redeeming factor.

In the end, the ugly pumpkin finds a gathering of multi-colored squash. They like to dress in flamboyant top hats, bake, and groom their face hair into nifty minimalist designs. And just when you think you've figured out the allegory, the fucking squash runs off with a woman. This is not irony. This is bait and switch riddled with offensive stereotypes, almost as if the editor was like, "you know, Horowitz, I like what you're doing here, but you're going to have to do more than simply paint over the assless chaps at the end of the book. People might get offended!"

Horowitz replied, "I don't care what the fascist majority thinks! Vive la Revolution!"

The editor shook his head. "Dave, it's not the conservatives I'm worried about . . . just make the ugly fucker run off with a girl squash at the end, ok? That'll limit the parameters in which interpretation can occur."

See, I told you the pictures sufficed.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Featured in a grandma reads session.

None of us are perfect. There is only roughly a thing called "normal." Someone somewhere told this little guy pumpkin that he was neither of these. . .and left him in the middle of his life labeled "ugly." And outcast. And lonely. All of these are feelings each of us have had in our lives. . . and my Bigs and Littles, too. So this book was welcomed as our waiting for TDay dinner to cook zoom read.

The art is quirky and reflects the awkward pumpkin who is the star of our story, and the tale walks us from beginning to end through the message that you are ok as you are, and there is always a place for each of us to claim, if we will.

4 star vote from us!

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book, I read it to my kids every Halloween and we keep it in our bin with all of our Halloween decorations, so it is a book that they look forward to reading all year when we pull out the Halloween stuff. After we read this book, my kids and I decided that when we go pick out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch, we always try to find the ugliest pumpkin we can find to buy and take home with us, because even the ugly pumpkins have a place in our home ;)

[Life Between Coffee Spoons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this during a Thanksgiving-themed storytime and the kids seemed to like it. There wasn't much to foster interaction, but the pictures were interesting and kept their attention. There is also enough humor to keep kids amused. Some of it is a little darker, so it may not be for all audiences, but my group ranged from ages 1 to 11.

As for use during storytime, it was fairly easy to read aloud and at an angle. I was able to play up their confusion about why we were reading a book that seemed to be about Halloween.

[Gabriella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for good Halloween books and happened across this one. Though there seems to be a Halloween vibe, it makes mention of Thanksgiving and is more of an autumn book than any specific holiday.

[Casandria · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ugly pumpkin is bullied until he discovers he's a squash.

[AC · Rating 4 out of 5]

M. Night Shyamalan would be jelly of that plot twist!

[Meredith · Rating 1 out of 5]

So if the skeleton and trees knew he was really a squash, would they have been nice to him?

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I am the ugly pumpkin, / as you can plainly see. / Of one hundred thousand pumpkins, none are quite like me." And so begins this rhyming tale of a disconsolate squash who imagines that he is an ugly pumpkin, and becomes progressively more dejected when no one selects him as jack-o-lantern material at Halloween. Then he discovers a garden of other squashes, realizes who he is and settles in for a happy Thanksgiving feast with his new friends...

Clearly inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairy-tale, The Ugly Duckling , in which a swan imagines that he is an unusual duck until he meets others of his kind, The Ugly Pumpkin is a fun little fall picture-book, including both Halloween and Thanksgiving themes. The text reads fairly well, and the boldly colorful artwork, created using cut-paper, charcoal and pencil, is eye-catching. All in all, this would make an excellent read-aloud selection for an autumn-themed story-time, although I wasn't sure just what to make of the story conclusion. Given that pumpkins are destined to be used by others as jack-o-lanterns in this story, it seemed somehow odd that squash, rather than being destined to be used as food, are instead the consumers of a feast. No doubt it wouldn't have made a very happy ending for the main character to be made into pie or soup. Leaving aside the question of the ending, this is one I would recommend to those seeking pumpkin-themed picture-books for this time of year.

[Stacy Renee (LazyDayLit) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a touching story about an ugly pumpkin that never gets picked to be a jack-o-lantern. He's tired of being teased and tricked so off he goes to find his place in the world, leaving October behind and heading into November where he finds where he truly belongs and celebrates Thanksgiving with a group of great new friends.

The Ugly Pumpkin reminds me so much of Hans Christian Andersons' 'The Ugly Duckling' has important themes about kindness, self-esteem, and finding where you fit in. I think it's a great story to teach kids about bullying and acceptance.

This story is set between October and November (and the two popular holidays within each,) with illustrations that reflect the season and holidays, making this a great Autumn read! I think it would be a great story to read before going to a pumpkin-picking farm that has both pumpkins and squash!


This picture book review was originally shared on Lazy Day Literature.

[Margie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor pumpkin doesn't look like others and feels left out, lonely and at odds with others "like" himself. Though you may think of this as a book for Halloween it actually goes deeper into Fall with a surprise and very satisfying ending, for the pumpkin as well as readers. Quite delightful.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ugly Pumpkin waited all of October to be picked and taken home by someone, but no one wanted an ugly pumpkin. He was ridiculed and picked on by the other pumpkins, and mistreated by the apple trees for being ugly. In his sorrow he took refuge in a garden from the rain, and discovered something very interesting.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love that this "ugly" pumpkin finds out he's really a squash perfect for Thanksgiving.

[Chris Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Books for Early Readers)

At first I didn't know what to expect with this book. It started with a pumpkin who was misshapen and didn't know who to hang out with, he just couldn't find the right group. Everyone he tried to hang out with or befriend started by giving him some hope, but ended up making fun of him for his odd shape. This continued for some pages and became somewhat redundant, struggling to get across what the theme was until the very end. The end of the book is what brought my enjoyment and put the smile back on my face. The pumpkin realized he wasn't a pumpkin at all, but a gourd of another variety! He finally found his niche and I can only assume he lived happily ever after with his newfound friends.

Though the theme was iffy at times, the images were captivating and really helped keep the reader interested through the parts with some redundancies. Also, the words had a rhyme scheme so for reading aloud it would probably make the book more interesting. The pictures were what caught my eye and made me want to read the book initially.

The main character is most relatable to a child who maybe doesn't fit in with the main crowd at school. This book could help inspire them to branch out and not give up on finding the right friend group.

The setting corresponded well with the halloween theme and pumpkins as it was set in a forrest.

Overall, a good read and great book to read aloud to a young reader with engaging illustrations and a rhyme scheme to help keep the child engaged.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was sweet and my students loved it!

This book was recommended to me by another teacher blogger who used it for a writing activity in her classroom. I decided to check it out and see if it was legit, and it was!

This was the story of an "ugly pumpkin" who waits and waits in the pumpkin patch for someone to pick him for Halloween. Instead of getting picked, he gets teased because of how ugly he is. So he leaves and ends up in a garden of squash. It's then that he declares, "Oh my gosh, I'm a squash!!!"

It was super cute and funny. Afterwards, we wrote about times we felt squashed, or sad and left out. I read this a few times to the kids. It rhymes and is just all around fun!

[Sonia Reppe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this tale of this ostracized, down-and-out gourd living a hardscrabble life, trying to catch a break and fit in somewhere, (the pumpkins reject him because he's not round) and at the end he finds his place. But I have a problem with the ending. When he sees spaghetti squash and other kinds of squash and realizes they come in all shapes--not just round pumpkin--he says, "I'm a squash!" The line should be, "I'm a Butternut squash!" Children reading this are going to think pumpkins are not squash. A pumpkin IS a squash. Otherwise I would rate this 5 stars.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun twist on the Ugly Duckling story that is told in rhyme! The pumpkin protagonist goes through a sad fall of being rejected by jack-o'-lantern carvers and autumn-leaf peepers, only to discover by Thanksgiving that he's not so ugly after all. My only gripe with this book is that the pumpkin looks very forlorn indeed in many illustrations, which might make some toddlers and preschoolers at storytime feel uneasy or upset. I cut out the verse about the pumpkin crying all alone. Otherwise, this is really cute.

[Edward Creter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cute story is a Halloween take on the Ugly Duckling tale of Hans Christian Andersen with a twist of squash! An ugly pumpkin wants to be with farm friends, which is admirable, but like the guy in the Good Samaritan tale, everyone passes him by...until the pumpkin ends up with the squash, falls for a female squash, and celebrates Thanksgiving, which, to be honest, is a better holiday for him than something which honors Vampires, Ghosts and Goblins. Even has a hidden message you must find to appreciate the book, and the holidays!

[Rosa Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great story to teach little guys about self esteem and 'finding yourself' Based very loosly on the famous "Ugly Duckling" this is a very nicely written story. My nearly 4 year old granddaughter said "oh he's sad" and then at the end "He's Happy!" and she giggled and smiled. So this story is full of emotions. The pumpkin can't find a new home and is over looked and called names by many during Halloween. He starts trying to find his home and time rolls over in November he eventually finds a field where he finds where he belongs!

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Ugly Duckling story is re-imagined with gourds and a hipper attitude. An ugly pumpkin, picked over for more attractive jack-o-lanterns, feels despondent. Then he wanders into another garden and discovers--"Oh my gosh! I'm a squash!"

The fall theme and bright illustrations will make this one a seasonal hit. Although, I will say, none of the page illustrations are quite as good as the cover.

Veg*n family note: The groovy gourds and seasonal produce will be appealing to plant-based families, but, weirdly enough, the squash have a roast turkey on their table on the final page.

[Maddi Holmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would recommend this book for the primary grades, second through third grade. I would categorize it as modern fantasy.

This book is adorable. My mom recommended it to me, and I almost didn't read it. I judged the book by it's title, and thought that it would be mean. Since my mom told me to, I read it anyway. I am really glad that I did, because it was actually really cute. It is a great fall book and can teach students to be kind. It also promotes individuality. We shouldn't change to fit in. We need to be ourselves and eventually we will find friends similar to us!

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ugly pumpkin is sad because he doesn’t look like the others and no one picks him to be their Halloween pumpkin. After being picked on by a skeleton and a tree, he has a good cry in he rain, then stumbles upon a group of squash. The squash look like him, and he realizes “oh my gosh I’m a squash”. The squash accept him and they all sit down to eat Thanksgiving dinner together.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic!
Our poor character is an Ugly Pumpkin and doesn't exactly have a place in the world.
Highly recommended if you've ever felt out of place.
Both classes got this book this week. And both of them figured it out before we got to the end.

[Katie Easter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Fantasy
Grade Level: preK-2nd Grade

This children's fantasy is the perfect read for young children in the fall. The story has morals and life lessons within the boundaries of a cute story. The children will learn valuable lessons while almost not even realizing it!

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really cute story perfect for reading aloud about a pumpkin that believes he is ugly until one day he finds out who he truly is and where he belongs.

11/4/19 Used again for storytime about Thanksgiving

[Christine Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanksgiving 2017. "Ugly Pumpkin" finds himself an outcast until he finds his place in the world. This book is a sad commentary on accepting people who are different from them. Still the book is engaging and provided discussion about how to treat others.

[Abbie Gerig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Traditional Literature
Grades: Pre K-5

This was a neat halloween twist on the Ugly Duckling story. I should have made the connection to that story before the ugly pumpkin was revealed to be a squash the whole time, but I liked being surprised.

[Jeani · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't pre-read this before sharing it with my 8 year old, so I was initially annoyed at how poorly the 'pumpkin' was treated to begin with. I enjoyed the ending very much and my daughter and I had a delightful conversation about prejudging, about fitting in, and about learning who you are.