Pumpkin and Me

4.5

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Author(s)

Alicia Acosta

Co-Authors / Illustrators

Mercé Galì

Publisher

NubeOcho

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

April 19, 2022

ISBN

978-8417673925

Buy This Book

When Pumpkin, my dog, died, everyone at home was sad. The next day, a dark cloud began to follow me around and it felt like I had soap in my eyes and an octopus wrapped tightly around my heart...
Written by the renowned child author and psychologist, Alicia Acosta, this uplifting, beautifully illustrated story explores themes of loss and grief and the power of memories.

Editor review

1 review

Dealing with Difficult Emotions

July 11, 2022

Overall rating

4.5

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

5.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

5.0

When a little girl's dog, Pumpkin, dies, she is consumed with grief. She compares the grief to feeling like an octopus is squeezing her, a black cloud is hanging over her head, and she has soap in her eyes. She talks to her parents, who assure her that these feelings are normal and will subside with time, but she doesn't like them. She thinks about the time that she spent with pumpkin, and remembers how funny he was, and how he would save her from dangerous situations. That night, she dreams that Pumpkin barks and frightens the octopus, blows the black clouds away, and licks the soap out of her eyes. She wakes up ready to remember the good times that she had with her dog, knowing that he will always be in her heart when she needs him.

Good Points

Losing a pet is a difficult situation no matter how old one is, since it is like losing a part of oneself. It was good to see that the little girl addressed her grief directly and had conversations with adults who took her feelings seriously. Children' picture books about grief change with the times, so it's important to figure out how you want to approach the topic with a young child. Books like Young's The Day We Lost Pet (2018) are more allegorical, and older titles like Demas' Saying Goodbye to Lulu (2004) focus more on moving on after the death of a pet. Modern titles like this one are more straight forward. Pumpkin doesn't just close his eyes or "pass away"; he dies.

Galí's illustrations are occasionally very spare, with lots of white space behind them. We see the girl and her father sitting on a park bench talking, or the girl with Pumpkin. In contrast, some pages show how messy emotions can be. The black cloud and octopus add a lot of movement and confusion to the pages. The teal, red, black and white pallette definitely shows the minimalist tendencies of 2022 and in thirty years time will definitely be evocative of a particular point in time.

Bibliotherapy can be very useful, and Pumpkin in Me is a book that will help many young readers process their emotions about the death of a pet.