THE GREAT PUMPKIN SWITCH
by Megan McDonald & illustrated by Ted Lewin
The Potato Man (1991) is featured in a second appealing story as, again, Grampa reminiscences about his small-town 20's childhood. This time, he and friend Otto are busy clearing up a tree felled by a storm when they accidentally cut little sister Rosie's pumpkin vine, causing her prize pumpkin to tumble down the stone steps and smash. Quickly hiding the evidence in a neighbor's pig, they substitute an even bigger pumpkin from Mr. Angelo's cart, ensuring that Rosie wins her prize and paying the potato man, with pennies they've earned together, the next day. Warm, beautifully cadenced storytelling, engaging period details, and Lewin's perceptive characterizations and evocative setting make this another wonderfully immediate summoning up of things past. (Picture book. 4-8)