Editor's note: Bringing this story out of the archives because Halloween is on deck (and it's a great story!)
Ridgefield resident, Patricia Lowe pens children’s book “The Confused Little Pumpkin”
Ridgefield resident Patricia Lowe knows a thing or two about making her audience smile, especially children. In her younger years, she ran away with Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus to become an aerialist.
She later left the tightrope behind and became an educator, working as a director of a nursery school and with special needs children for much of her career.
Now, this awe-inspiring person has used her worldly travels and creative genius to pen the world a gift.
Enter: The Confused Little Pumpkin.
With magnificent illustrations by Tammy Roth, The Confused Little Pumpkin tells the story of Ruby and her family who live in a storybook house. Ruby dreams of planting a magical garden filled with vegetables of different shapes and sizes.” When one odd little seed takes an odd shape, quite different from the rest, we are taught a powerful lesson about acceptance and respect.
Lowe wrote the heartfelt words for a beloved four-year-old girl as a birthday gift. And says, “It was never meant for publication.” But, after sharing the message with family and friends, The story about the Confused Little Pumpkin took root.
Lowe says, “It's a universal message and has taken on a life of its own.”
Lowe wrote the beautiful story several years ago and then life got in the way. She finally brushed the dust off of the pages in 2019 and shared the words with her friend, Tammy Roth. “I said, “Don’t go crazy, draw what you see”. And alas, Roth gave life to the words by way of robust, colorful illustrations. "She is a talented artist and it was her illustrations that gave birth to my words," Lowe says.
The book has been sold-out hit at Books on the Common (don’t worry, it’s being restocked) and Lowe says, she hopes The Confused Little Pumpkin is a library favorite and can be published in many languages.
And, one of Lowe’s dreams of bringing The Confused Little Pumpkin to schools, has already come true. “We are talking with a school literacy member in a New York elementary school who would like us to come as their guest author. The date will be finalized by the end of this month. This will give us hopefully the opportunity to speak in local schools as well as others throughout Connecticut,” she says.
Lowe and Roth are not resting on their laurels. “Our next book will be published sometime in 2024, “ The Horse with the Rosy Cheek”.
Head to Books on the Common to purchase The Confused Little Pumpkin.
Visit Green Boots Publishing online https://www.greenbootspublishing.com/ where you can learn more about Patricia Lowe, Tammy Roth and follow their literary journey.