Teach Kids About the True Meaning of Halloween: It’s Not About You Mr. Pumpkin

In a few days children all across the US will be donning their costumes and scouring neighborhoods searching for confectionary treats all in celebration of Halloween. While kids can be frightened by some of the scary décor that is often used to decorate during this season, a child’s main focus is the CANDY.  How to get the best and most in their bag fills their thoughts. However, as an adult, especially Christian parents often struggle with how best to handle this day. We know there is more than just sweetness associated with this popular holiday tradition.

For parents wanting to teach their children about the true meaning of Halloween, Soraya Diase Coffelt’s book, It’s Not About You Mr. Pumpkin, offers the perfect little book to begin the discussion with their children about the history of Halloween.  What I liked most about the book is that it is told from the voice of the child informing Mr. Pumpkin about the facts he has learned rather than an adult telling the child. Although the child is setting the record straight by sharing the facts he has learned, the author does a good job of infusing the letter with typical sidebar questions a child might ask. For instance, he asks Mr. Pumpkin:

 

By the way, what happened to all your teeth? Did you eat a lot of candy and then forget to brush them? Is that why most of your teeth fell out and you only have a few left?

Young children will enjoy the colorful illustrations all while learning the origins of trick or treating, how bats, black cats, and carved pumpkins became associated with Halloween, and why people played bobbing for apples. The books is small but packs an impressive amount of bite-size teaching into its 29 pages.  It’s Not About You Mr. Pumpkin is a part of  The Love Letters Book Series and I was provided copies of each book by the author in exchange for honest review. When you purchase a print copy of the book, you also get a free eBook edition via BitLit and your purchase goes to help a child in need.

 

Book Details:

• Age Range: 5 – 10 years
• Series: Morgan James Kids
• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing (August 11, 2015)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1630476390
• ISBN-13: 978-1630476397
• Available at Amazon

 

About the Author

Soraya Diase Coffelt is a lawyer and former judge of the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. She is a widow and the mother of two sons. After serving as a parent volunteer in the Children’s Ministry at her church, she realized that she had a calling and a gift to teach children God’s Word in a very simple but fun and exciting way. During a period of about 15 years, she became a leader in the Children’s Ministry and then a lay minister. She has been on missionary trips to Honduras and the Amazon Region of Peru ministering to adults and children. God has given her many creative ideas for ministering His Word to children, and her books are just some of them.

In 2012, she established a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation named As The Stars Of The Sky Foundation, Inc. to assist with the physical and spiritual needs of children. All proceeds from the sales of her books go toward this cause.