Photo Credit: Ron Lightburn
Email:
c/o Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia
Upon moving to Coldbrook, NS from Victoria BC in 1997, Sandra and Ron Lightburn learned that autumn not only brought the spectacular colours of fall, it also heralded the arrival of many special visitors to the Town of Kentville. These unusual townsfolk had large orange heads, cornstalk bones and lots of personality! They had discovered the annual gathering of the Pumpkin People, who help celebrate the Kentville Harvest Festival. When they saw hundreds of these fun figures cavorting throughout the town, they knew they had moved to their kind of place! And as they saw the Pumpkin People reappear from year to year, Sandra couldn't help but wonder what they did at night while the town slept. This question inspired her to write her story, Pumpkin People. It has been said that the Pumpkin People are one of the purest forms of folk art. Her idea in creating a story about the "secret life" of the Pumpkin People was to turn folk art into folklore. Her picture book reveals that while the town sleeps and the October moon rises, the Pumpkin People come to life and gather at a nocturnal Ceilidh to dance and play. Their secret revelry is seen through the eyes of two lucky children and their cat who join in the magical fun. Ron Lightburn's colourful illustrations bring this secret world to life. And there is a special section at the back of the book to teach pumpkin fans how to build their own pumpkin person.
Sandra's first book, Driftwood Cove, won the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize for text and illustration and was shortlisted for the Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children's Literature.
- Pumpkin People. Illustrated by Ron Lightburn. Halifax: Nimbus Publishing, 2008, ISBN: 978-155109-681-0.
- Resource Links The Year's Best 2008 list.
- Quill & Quire Starred review.
- "This book is a Canadiana gem. Written in poem form, the book shares the Kentville, Nova Scotia custom of building Pumpkin People each fall. What an intriguing tale! [...] I loved this book [...] Having the directions on how to make your own Pumpkin People at the end of the story adds to the fun. Highly recommended for elementary classrooms." - Susan Miller, Resource Links, Volume 14, Number 2, December 2008
- "In jaunty verse, the Lightburns' book imagines the pumpkin people gathering at night and dancing around a bonfire [...] the Lightburns present a richly coloured and cheerful vision of the night's doings." - Gwyneth Evans, Quill & Quire, December 2008
- "...sparks the imagination and will be especially fun for preschoolers to enjoy during the fall" - Margaret Poole, Atlantic Books Today, Fall 2008
- Driftwood Cove. Illustrated by Ron Lightburn. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 1998. ISBN 0-385-25626-4.
- Winner of the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize for text and illustration, 1999
- Shortlisted for the Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children's Literature, 1999.
- ...this book has been rightly singled out as a top choice by the Canadian Children's Book Centre [...] this story will open children's eyes to another way of living that can be simple and elegant" - Cathy MacDonald, The Daily News, April 4, 1999.
- "This is a touching story about the importance of family life and one that is both beautifully illustrated and thoughtfully written. Sandra Lightburn chooses her words carefully as she tenderly describes the squatter families' unusual lifestyle and their homes on the West Coast beach." - Library and Archives Canada
