Kids’ Pumpkin Books To Read Before Visiting Silver Spring Patches

SILVER SPRING — An early fall visit to the biggest pumpkin patches and fields in or near Silver Spring can only be enhanced with the best reads beforehand. Kids will be more enthused about picking out the perfect one for pumpkin carving with a better understanding of the pumpkin basics.

Here are some of the pumpkin patches near Silver Spring:

• DePaul's Urban Farm
• Homestead Farm
• Sharp's At Waterford Farm
• The Maryland Corn Maze
• Summers Farm
• Loudounberry Farm

KC Edventures, an organization that encourages children's learning through providing information on fun activities, has sorted out recommended fall reads for kids by genre and age group in its 2019 list of "12 perfect pumpkin books for kids."

The recommended reads include "From Seed to Pumpkin," which teaches the science behind how seeds grow; "The Pumpkin Book," detailing the growth of pumpkins; and "The Very Best Pumpkin," about a boy named Peter who finds and cares for a pumpkin all summer long.

• Also On Patch: Silver Spring Pumpkin Farm Guide 2021

Pumpkin books for kids with a Halloween theme include “Five Little Pumpkins On Halloween Night” and “You Are My Pumpkin,” according to a 2020 list from Scholastic.com.

Here are five of the other books on the list, all available for order on Amazon.

• Pumpkin Pumpkin, author and illustrator: Jeanne Titherington
• It's Pumpkin Time!, author: Zoe Hall; illustrator: Shari Halpern
• The Runaway Pumpkin, author: Kevin Lewis; illustrator: S.D. Schindler
• Pumpkin Soup, author and illustrator: Helen Cooper
• The Pumpkin Fair, author: Eve Bunting; illustrator: Eileen Christelow