First and foremost, I loved the artwork in this. It's such a cute and cosy style that's perfect for picture books!
Overall, I'm not sure what the message was intended to be here - to persevere? Keep being yourself and eventually you'll be chosen? Regardless, it was a cute little book

A sweet Halloween story about being yourself! Nobody wants the happy pumpkin and the other scary pumpkins make fun of him until the perfect match for him comes along. A nice story to show Halloween doesn’t have to be all about the spooky. Adorable illustrations.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

With bright, attractive illustrations and a heartwarming story that suggests you will find the right friends for you without having to be just like everyone else this would be a really enjoyable Autumn/Halloween read with young children (3-6). A great text for use in an SPHE lesson celebrating our unique qualities or as inspiration for an art lesson to design your own unique 'jack o lantern' face, I can definitely see myself using this in a junior primary classroom.
Thanks to Netgalley.co.uk and DK Children for the free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A sweet Halloween story about being yourself! Nobody wants the happy pumpkin and the other scary pumpkins make fun of him until the perfect match for him comes along. A nice story to show Halloween doesn’t have to be all about the spooky. Adorable illustrations.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the early e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

A sweet children's book, ideal for introducing young children to the celebration of Hallowe'en whilst also making them aware that it doesn't have to be a scary time, to be a good time!

The short sentence structure using simple wording helps to keep the attention of younger readers, whilst also allowing young people to follow along and improve their reading skills.

The different displays of families and ethnicities is welcome in this brilliant Autumnal book from DK.

The art style is cute, with a very autumnal colour palette - it works brilliantly!

Many thanks to DK and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book!

Looking forward to its release

The Happy Pumpkin is a story about a smiley pumpkin at halloween. All of the other pumpkins around him are pulling their scariest face trying to get picked by the children looking for a spooky pumpkin. Yet he has a big smile and is not picked until last. It’s a cute story!

SO adorable! I loved it <3
Beautiful drawings, great message, perfect length for kids.

In conclusion: a go to for a halloween picture book.

This is such an adorable little book with the message that it is absolutely fine to be who you are even if you are different to everyone else, and that if you are anxious about what people might think that is fine too - those feelings are valid but most importantly keep being and doing you.
A wonderful message for children from a young age.

I absolutely love this story!

A beautiful story that not only shows it’s ok not to like everything other people like, but that it’s ok to be scared by what other people feel fun.

It also teaches children we are wonderful just the way we are! Beautiful illustrations accomplish this heartwarming story.
A perfect Halloween story!

This book is so cute. My 7 year old loved it. It is quite cheesy but the meaning behind it is lovely. Perfect Bedtime story for a child. The illustrations are done brilliantly and we're bright and entertaining enough to keep my daughter enthralled in the book until the end. I would definitely recommend for children up to around 7/8 years for a Bedtime story.

Beautiful charming illustrations which capture perfectly and a lovely message about how it is okay to be different.

Wish a little more time could have been spent on how it’s okay to enjoy the less spooky side of Halloween from a human perspective. Also a touch confusing that the pumpkins already seemed to be Jack O lanterns but also talked about being made scary. Perhaps this story would have benefited from a pumpkin picking scene and then a pumpkin decorating scene where one child makes a scary pumpkin and another makes a happy one.

This is a book about a happy pumpkin. The colours are very autumnal. All the pumpkins in the town had been made to look scary apart from one who was smiley. I love the ending of We always shine our brightest when we are just who we are. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I love the illustrations in this cute little book. I'm sure every child would love to read it around Halloween.

This book was the most heartwarming charming tale. I am a children's bookseller and I am always looking for different seasonal books to add to the range we have in store. This is a fantastic book that shows that not everyone likes the scary side to Halloween and that's perfectly okay. Certainly a book that I will be stocking in the future.

This short book was so cute! I loved the art style, full of autumnal colors and diverse characters. The story carries a few messages that are so nice to see in children literature. It is about celebrating the most soft-hearted people and finding a home with people who will accept you for who you are. I really loved this book, it was such a great read for this spooky season!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and DK for this eARC!

A simple story with a powerful message.

Told through simple text and eye catching illustrations this book follows Happy Pumpkin has he waits to find someone who wants him just the way he is.

Not everyone wants to be scary and not everyone wants to be scared - through this book children learn that we are at our best when we are ourselves.

Perfect for sharing in the run up to Halloween.

I read this book with my four-year-old daughter who is very much in to Halloween this year and she loved it – in fact as soon as we finished reading it she asked for us to read it together again straight after!

The images were lovely and suited the story really well and I liked the overall theme too as a mum. It was easy to read and follow and she really enjoyed it too so that was a definite hit with me as I much prefer it when we can spend time reading and learning her letters than watching TV!

It is 5 stars from us for this one – very highly recommended!

The Happy Pumpkin by DK is about a very happy pumpkin who is just happy being himself. The story is very sweet and the illustrations are eye catching and give magic to the book.

Title: The Happy Pumpkin
By ,MacKenzie Haley,
Publisher:: DK
Pub Date 02 Sep 2021
Genre: Children's Fiction
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4302330763


The Happy Pumpkin is a short story about a pumpkin who is not like the rest of the pumpkin patch. While all the other pumpkins look scary Happy Pumpkin does not. Halloween approaches and soon the children will pick their pumpkins. All of the other pumpkins jeered him and told him no one would want a happy pumpkin.

An amazing children's story about being true to who you are and finding people who love you for you.

Would have loved this book as a kid, because I love it as an adult. The art is great and I enjoined its lesson.

What a wonderful little Halloween book for children! I just loved this cute book and it made me smile so much. The book itself is beautiful, as it is full of colourful and bright illustrations that look professional. The story is about a field of pumpkins, and all but one of them have scary faces. The other one has a smiley face. Lots of children come to pick their pumpkin and they all choose the scary face pumpkins. The smiley pumpkin is left until the end, but will he get a child who will come for him and love him? The story teaches an important message to children, which is that it is ok to be different from everyone else, and that you should just be who you really are. This is a heartwarming book, which made me feel a bit emotional. I highly recommend it!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.