Tasha Tudor passed away this summer.  You may recognize her work from the covers of The Secret Garden and A Little Princess (when published by HarperFestival).  Having lived a full and fascinating life based on the styles and habits of the 19th Century, she was the Thoreau of her time.  Her book, Pumpkin Moonshine, has always been the book that comes to mind when I think of the fall. It is the story of a little girl and a runaway pumpkin.  It is sweet and simple—reminiscent of an era gone by.

Here are some of the books you all listed for our harvest of great books dialogue:
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams
Max’s Halloween (Max and Ruby) by Rosemary Wells
I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie (Picture Puffins) by Alison Jackson and Judy Schachner
The Stranger by Chris Van Allsburg (my favorite of his after The Polar Express)
A Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman and Jeff Shelly
Four Scary Stories by Tony Johnston
The Hallo-wienerby Dav Pilkey

Thank you everyone for all your other marvelous suggestions.  If you haven’t had a chance yet, you can peruse them all in the comments section.

A special thanks to Erin who reminded me of the name of the book I rambled about on that post.  It was called  Pumpkins: A Story for a Field by Mary Lyn Ray and Barry Root

I have one more suggestion.  Jerry Seinfeld Halloween.  My husband and I laugh over this until we almost cry.  We were both the kids who had to go trick-or-treating with our winter coats on . . .  you’ll see what I mean when you read the book.  We bought the book for ourselves, but the kids love it, too.  I must warn you, though, it is a little rude in some parts (he uses the words shut-up and stupid, and is ungrateful to a nice old lady), at which points I will either switch in another word, or say things like, “We don’t say shut-up.  We don’t treat people like that.”  Then I just laugh on the inside so the kids can’t see.

My husband just emailed me a YouTube link where you can see the pictures, and hear Jerry perform the stand-up routine that goes with it.

4 Responses to “a salute to tasha tudor and a list of favorite fall books”

1. Stuart says:

   25 October 2008 at 8:56 am

   I love the Seinfeld book!!
2. kat-in-texas says:

   25 October 2008 at 8:17 pm

   There’s a few of those books we haven’t read yet, so thanks for the tip. My husband and I love Seinfeld, so that’s gonna be a must read for us too. I’ll check out the video soon.

   Thanks, Jaime!
3. Tea says:

   26 October 2008 at 9:54 pm

   I hadn’t heard that TT had passed away (which makes me sad although she certainly had a long and full life, sunbonnets to boot). I just brought up my worn copy of A Time to Keep to Seattle so I could share it with my nieces. I adored that book as a kid. Must track down Pumpkin Moonshine now.
4. Christina says:

   4 November 2008 at 7:10 pm

   We bought that Jerry Seinfield book a few years ago and we too laughed all the way through! My oldest son loved it so much we continued to read it well after Halloween was over. Definitely a favorite!