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Children's Pumpkin Book

Hello,

I thought those of you with small children might enjoy a book called, "The
Biggest Pumpkin Ever," by Steven Kroll, illustrated by Jeni Bassett. My kids
are four, three and one, and they love it when I read this book to them.
It's especially neat since this is our first attempt at growing big pumpkins.

I found it quite coincidental that a relative happend to give the book
(second-hand) to my kids, just weeks after I had decided to order AG seeds
for the first time.

The book is a very cute story about two mice who both try to grow an amazing
pumpkin -- one dreams about winning the grand prize at the town pumpkin
contest, and the other wants to make the biggest jack-o-lantern in the
neighborhood. The book was published in 1984 by Scholastic Inc., 730
Broadway, New York, NY 10003, "by arrangement with Holiday House, Inc. (18
East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022)." It also says "SeeSaw Books" on the
cover.

The book is recommended for a three-to-seven-year-old audience and the price
tag that was left on my copy was $3.50. (In small print, the cover says
Scholastic 0-590-41113-6/$2.50 US/$3.95 CAN). It appears "Scholastic Inc."
also has offices in Toronto, London, Auckland and Sydney. I would imagine
that any bookstore should be able to order in the book for those of you who
might want it.

I'm writing from Busby, Alberta, Canada and currently have three AGs and one
jack-o-lantern variety plant in my garden. After some initial difficulty
getting my seeds to germinate, I bought one AG and one jack-o-lantern plant
seedling in peat pellets from my local greenhouse. At the same time, I
re-ordered some seeds, then successfully germinated them and planted the
seedlings. As a result, half of my plants are quite a bit further behind
than the others. I gave several of the other plants I had germinated myself
to a number of my relatives so we could have our own little friendly
competition of novice pumpkin growing.

When I planted the two peat pellet seedlings, I got them mixed up and now
don't know which one is the AG and which one is the jack-o-lantern variety.
They are both doing fairly well and healthy so far. One has more "jagged"
shaped leaves than the other, who's leaves are rounder with smoother edges.
Can anyone tell me which one is which by this description?

I had one flower open several days ago, but don't yet know how to tell the
difference between male and females.

Anyway, that's a update from this Alberta newbie. I'm enjoying the suspense
of seeing how my efforts pan out in the garden this fall and the kids will
enjoy making jack-o-lanterns, regardless of how big they are. It's also fun
feeling like I belong to an exclusive club of fellow pumpkin growers.

Good luck to everyone!
Janis Schole
jschole@west-teq.net
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