Giant Pumpkin Suite
by Melanie Heuiser Hill

4.5 out of 5 stars
Rose is a 12-year-old prodigy studying for a Bach Cello Competition, hoping to win a scholarship with a famous cello teacher. Her twin brother Thomas is helping their neighbor to grow a giant pumpkin in the backyard. As Rose becomes hyper-focused on the music competition, her teacher encourages her to pursue other interests like helping out with the gardening for the pumpkin. Rose and Thomas are very different, but they come together to research how to grow giant pumpkins. They might even have a pumpkin large enough to win a blue ribbon at the State Fair. Rose suffers a setback in her music goals, and the pumpkin becomes more important than ever.

This book took me on an emotional rollercoaster of grief and fear and hope and joy! Because I’m a musician, I really enjoyed the way that Rose talks about her connection to music, especially Bach’s Cello Suites. The music sings inside her soul, and she can rely on the music to calm her nerves and give her a sense of security. Rose has amazing character development; she has such a complex personality!

This book also tapped into some very deep fears for me. As a musician, one of the worst fears you have is getting injured so that you would be unable to play your instrument any more. Most career musicians I know are very careful of their hands, and unwilling to take risks in potentially injurious situations. There were certain scenes that had me crying and upset because of those fears being explored through the story! But it was also good to see the healing and growth of the characters in spite of difficult circumstances.

I loved the whole cast of supporting characters as the whole neighborhood comes together to help grow the giant pumpkin. There are people helping to provide compost, helping to build a rig to move the pumpkin, and coming together to encourage each other in this community project.

There is a very sweet Japanese lady who shows the twins how to do a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. I loved that scene!
Rose’s best friend is a girl who is obsessed with dance, and she literally dances around everywhere she goes. So cute!
There is also a homosexual couple who have adopted a baby, but they only appear in a couple of scenes.

Overall, I really loved this book and enjoyed this exploration of music and how musicians find their inner spark of creativity in many different places!

To see the sensitive content in this book including medical content, check it out on the Screen It First website! https://screenitfirst.com/book/giant-pumpkin-suite-936203