Walking through the orchard in early summer with her parents and big white dog, Lilly spots some leafy vines spilling over the old compost heap\u2014pumpkin \u201cvolunteers.\u201d Dad explains, \u201cWe didn\u2019t plant them, they sprouted from the pumpkins we threw away last fall.\u201d Over the course of a long, hot season, Lilly plays, grooms her dog, rakes, and picks apples, all the while watching over her crop. She learns that bees pollinate the flowers, and her parents tell her how to protect the small fruits from hungry foxes, deer, and rabbits. Lilly is eager to harvest the pumpkins but must wait until they are big and ripe, with dry stems. And when they are picked, she leaves many behind for wildlife\u2014and for next year\u2019s volunteers. Final pages offer information on pumpkins and recipes for some of the pumpkin dishes Lilly has dreamed of. Simplified, line-free illustrations bring these days to life in clear, earthy greens and browns. Those curious about the origins of jack-o\u2019-lanterns or pumpkin pie\u2014or who wish to learn more about rural life\u2014will find this a lucid and appetizing option. Dad is brown-skinned, Mom is pale-skinned, and Lilly is tan-skinned.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Walking through the orchard in early summer with her parents and big white dog, Lilly spots some leafy vines spilling over the old compost heap\u2014pumpkin \u201cvolunteers.\u201d Dad explains, \u201cWe didn\u2019t plant them, they sprouted from the pumpkins we threw away last fall.\u201d Over the course of a long, hot season, Lilly plays, grooms her dog, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6586"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}