Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin pie
I must have some before I die.
It must be round and brown as toast
Or I’ll haunt this house a hungry ghost.

My sister’s kids introduced this book to me when they were little. They found it at the library and made me read it to them time and again and again. When they had to return it to the library, I bought them their own copy and then bought a copy for myself.

The story takes place in a quaint farmhouse beside an old apple orchard. On the first few pages, we meet a curmudgeonly old man who is berating his sweet wife for her failure to produce the perfect pumpkin pie he craves. After shouting something along the lines of “I wouldn’t be caught dead eating this pie” or “over my dead body will I eat this pie”, the old man drops dead right in his pie. His wife quickly buries him in the orchard and disappears into the night (nothing suspicious there).

Years later, a boy and his grandmother have moved into the house. All seems well until the grandmother bakes a pumpkin pie and sets it on the open window to cool. The breezes waft over the orchard reaching the grave of the old man and he is drawn out of the ground to the pie.

The boy is startled, especially when the old man shows up in their home, demands a slice of pie, and stipulates his requirements for a perfect pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin pie
I must have some before I die.
It must be round and brown as toast
Or I’ll haunt this house a hungry ghost.

Grandmother patiently bakes another pie. But it’s not perfect either. So she bakes yet another.

After finally satisfying the demands of their unwanted houseguest, he fades away, and grandmother and grandson are left in piece.

Until grandmother bakes an apple pie…

I was happy to read it over and over again. It’s the perfect read-aloud book, with great rhymes and characters with distinct voices. The illustrations are fun – although the book deserves a better cover. The story is pleasantly creepy and the good guys win in the end – although the sight of the apple pie scent wafting tantalizingly over the orchard, leaves the door open for more fun later – and results in children screaming, “Again! Again!”

The perfect Halloween read-aloud.