October is orange and black, ghosts, haunted houses, candy, leaves falling and best of all, pumpkins. You can carve, light up, cook, eat, and decorate them. There are more books about pumpkins than one can count, but depending on your need, your public library has some great choices.

Parties are popular in October for birthdays and Halloween gatherings. Even virtual parties in a pandemic call for fun costumes and decorations. Pumpkins and Party Themes: 50 DIY designs to bring Halloween Extravaganza to Life, by Roxanne Rhoads, has numerous ideas for carving and decorating pumpkins of all sizes and colors for party themes or just plain family fun decorating. Her book begins with a history of the jack-o-lantern and pumpkin carving basics. What is especially interesting is that if you don’t want your creation to rot away, she recommends using faux (artificial) pumpkins that can be purchased at a craft store or over the internet. They are called Fun-Kins and can be saved and re-used every year.

In Rhoads’ book you’ll find how to create a lace covered pumpkin, clock pumpkin, mermaid pumpkin, black cat pumpkin, just to name a few. Many of Rhoads’ carving and decorating directions include literary themes such as Edgar Allen Poe’s poetry, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The appendix of Pumpkins and Party Themes provides actual stencil templates to use when applying a picture from one of her many pumpkin designs.

For the cooks among us, a very comprehensive e-book is The Great Big Pumpkin Cookbook: A Quick and Easy Guide to Making Pancakes, Soups, Breads, Pastas, Cakes, Cookies and More by Maggie Michalczyk. Nutritional facts and an explanation of different types of pumpkins with great pictures precede the many varieties of pumpkin recipes. Those who don’t want to use real pumpkin will like the section, “25 ways to use a can of pumpkin,” which gives some interesting recipes for making popsicles, a face mask, and even a recipe for soothing a dog’s upset stomach.

Two other cookbooks for pumpkin lovers are The Pumpkin Lover’s Cookbook, by Lyuba Brooke, and Purely Pumpkin: More Than 100 Wholesome Recipes to Share, Savor and Warm Your Kitchen, by Allison Day. Both offer creative and intriguing recipes to explore.

For children and the young at heart, there are many books about pumpkins in the children’s department. Anyone seriously into carving pumpkins should look at How to Carve Freakishly Cool Pumpkins, by Sarah Schuette. When my grandson was very young he enjoyed the DVD, and picture book, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, by Charles Schulz as well as the picture book, The Great Pumpkin Returns. See It Grow: Pumpkin, by Jackie Lee was a great educational book to teach him how pumpkins grow.

Beyond cooking, carving and decorating, a must-visit is the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular at Roger Williams Park in Providence, Rhode Island from September 30-October 31. Information and tickets are available on the website, www.rwpzoo.org/jols. Visitors walk along a path that displays thousands of beautifully decorated and carved pumpkins while listening to music along the way. It’s great fun for adults and children alike. You won’t be disappointed.

Norma Logan is the Literacy Volunteer Coordinator at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA. Look for her article in the October 7, 2021 issue of the Transcript and Bulletin.