Ebook168 pages2 hours
The Legend of the Pumpkin Thief
By Charles Day
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
2.5/5
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About this ebook
As the townsfolk sleep, something creeps into the neighborhood. Hidden in the shadows, its presence is as old as time itself, its intent not born of goodness. Nick, a teenager who fancies himself a detective, wakes to find his carved masterpiece missing. Now a mystery is afoot and Nick has his first assignment, to find out who or what is snatching up the town's pumpkins and why. Unfortunately, as with all great detectives, obstacles stand in Nick's way—the neighborhood bully and his cronies and the strange old lady and her dog who share the run-down house at the end of Nick's block. As Nick investigates, an urban legend unravels . . . the legend of the Pumpkin Thief. Nick fears the legend as he embarks on the most dangerous adventure of his young life. Collecting clues, getting ever closer to the true nature of evil, he learns that curiosity comes with a high price.
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Reviews for The Legend of the Pumpkin Thief
Rating: 2.575 out of 5 stars
2.5/5
20 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nick, an aspiring detective and self-proclaimed protector of the neighborhood, has the world's most complicated Halloween ahead of him. A few things on his list: attempt to discover who stole all the pumpkins in the neighborhood, makes sense of an urban legend about a pumpkin headed spirit summoner, keep his annoying little sister out of the way, woo the cute girl on the bus, and avoid the school bully who has singled him out for a beating. This night is more than enough to keep a 12-year-old kid occupied on the spookiest night of the year. THE LEGEND OF THE PUMPKIN THIEF is an exciting look in to the minds and imaginations of young kinds on the brink of young adulthood and is a fun, if not anxious read. Although many have attributed this book as a young adult novel, I would more rightly place it in the youth horror category along side R.L. Stein's Goosebumps. The themes are not quite dynamic enough to enthrall teenagers and other young adults, but kinds in the latter part of elementary school and junior high will find this read engaging and fun. Nick faces many of the trials of your typically American adolescent, and a few not so typical ones, which allows him to be relatable. The pairing of young detective fiction and horror writing makes for a fun read that will be interesting for young kids looking for something besides flirting vampires for change.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Nick thinks that an urban legend, the Pumpkin Thief, is stealing pumpkins from people's houses. If the pumpkins are stolen, they don't guard the house from spooky things on Halloween. Nick wants to stop the Pumpkin Thief, but will anyone believe him?Honestly, this book was a bit of a bore to me. I enjoy kids' horror as long as it is well written and engaging, but this just wasn't engaging or interesting enough for me. I was given a free copy for an honest review.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nick is a 17-year-old wannabe detective. Around Halloween, pumpkins in his neighborhood go missing and are found smashed. He begins researching a legend about a "pumpkin thief." He originally believes the thief to be Mrs. Needlewhitter, the elderly neighborhood grouch (who, in turn, thinks Nick is the pumpkin thief). Then, Nick suspects Lou, the neighborhood bully. On Halloween, Lou bullies Nick at an abandoned house, and they discover ghosts, who were taking the pumpkins.For a 17 year old, Nick has very little character development. He doesn't stand up to bullies. His parents are absent. While this book is aimed at younger readers, the characters don't speak to me.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5This book takes a very long time to get interesting. I finally engaged in the last two chapters and was actually interested in the story. Prior to that the reading was pure drudgery. Its as if the writer endured writing the first several chapters to finally get to the part he wanted to write. The writing lacks any imagination and the characters are just flat. I don't see any middle grade child reading this for long. It is a real shame because the author could have done so much more with his concept.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I received this book from Library Thing for my honest opinion...The Legend of the Pumpkin Thief is a children's book, with a halloween themed story line, that I thought had great potential initially but when I started reading it I got very bored. It was one of those books that was easy to put down and took me way too long to get through. It wasn't until almost the end of the book where it was actually interesting. The author told the story of Nick, a kid who read mysteries and thought of himself as an amateur detective, and the neighborhood mystery of the missing pumpkins he was trying to solve. There were so many opportunities to paint a real picture with Nick, his sister, the bully and his gang, etc. but it never happened, until the climax. I think if the first half of the book was rewritten with as much imagination as the ending, then I would recommend it. Otherwise I would not recommend this book.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I received this book in exchange for an HONEST REVIEW.I found the book to be EXTREMELY boring. They always say you "catch" or lose your readers in the first ten pages and with this being a book for the ages where the attention span tends to be short...a slow start is considered death. In the case with this book...certain death. The story picks up a bit towards the end but it is "too little too late" and I am afraid most people would have quit on it by then. Plus...even with the improvement, there is not enough to make it worth recommending to anyone or looking for another book in the series (if this was intended to be a series).One idea can be turned into a great book...but that one idea needs to be expanded and fleshed out not just dropped at the end of a book with nothing substantial before it.I know how hard it is to finish writing a novel and I always give people credit for doing so...the problem now-a-days is that everyone thinks they are and that they don't need an editor or practice working their craft before publishing.1 Star for the effort...
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great read for young adults, I would say the younger end of the age spectrum, looking for a mystery story as well as a scary story. The characters are definitely ones that young adults can relate. The main characters are as follows: Nick: Main character who is 17 years old interested in being a detective when he gets older.Samantha: Nick's younger sister Jenny: Nick's "love" interestLou: The Neighborhood BullyNorm, Ralph, and Byron: Lou's "groupies"Mrs. Needlewhitter: Nick's old and cranky neighbor who has a dog baxter. The storyline explores the legend of the Pumpkin thief and it says "...around Halloween, this evil creature, the Pumpkin Thief, a tall, green-bean-thin figure in a black suit and large, orange tie, with a massive orange pumpkin for a head, and carved-out eyes, nose, and jagged mouth,would sneak into a town of his choosing and snatch up the pumpkins at night. He'd collect as many as he could hold, then he'd carry them away to a secret location" and how Nick tries to be a detective and figure out if he has stricken in his town all while dealing with the everyday life of a 17 year old.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This book was received as an Early Reviewer selection.Normally, this is the kind of book I would read voluntarily, as I am always looking for something to recommend to my middle school students. Unfortunately, this is not one that I will be passing along to them. Both the story and the writing are uneven throughout; it almost seemed as if two different authors collaborated to work together on it, but didn't talk to one another about what this book was supposed to be about and how it should be written. The story is listed as "horror," but all of the horror in the book is confined to about a dozen or so pages near the end. The remainder of the book is filled with one-dimensional characters, stilted dialogue, and building suspense that never quite builds to anything. It really is too bad, because the premise of the book had great potential. Perhaps a stronger editor would have helped.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I was given a copy for reviewI decided to read it out of curiosity , but i probably shouldn't havethe writing was nice and the story is okay as well , but just not for me . i found it boring and nothing in it was interesting .i didn't feel like it was engaging enough , and the characters are very dullyou can't get into the story no matter how far you readit is a kids book after all ...( i'm not sure i would even recommend it to kids)
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This would probably appeal most to upper elementary school students. It’s fun that the protagonist, Nick, wants to be a detective, but there didn’t seem to be much sleuthing. It was more about preparing to attend a bully’s party than solving a mystery, and not much else happened until the last quarter of the book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The beautiful cover image got my attention, so I knew I had to read this one. Bearing in mind that the story aims at young readers, the simple writing was easy to follow. The very descriptive language makes it easy to follow what happens and what Nick experiences, however sometimes it felt a bit repetitive and overly detailed, as if explaining things to an unknowing toddler instead of a child who can already read and imagine on its own. The characters were simple - the bully, the weird old lady, the unsure boy with heroic ambitions, but I guess that is still ok with a children's tale. The Pumpkin Thief was scary, but not too much, and of course the ending was a happy one (to prevent nightmares ;).All in all a nice addition for kids who like creepy stories, especially around Halloween time, but not one to last - they will outgrow it soon.(I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review)
Book preview
The Legend of the Pumpkin Thief - Charles Day
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