The Girl/Boy Who Went to the Pumpkin Patch by April Lainey Klos

What is The Girl/Boy Who Went to the Pumpkin Patch about?

A girl and a boy who go on an adventure to a pumpkin patch. The takeaway of The Girl and Boy series is to inspire kids to make their own adventures.

The Girl and the Boy version book series came about when I was visiting our family in Michigan, we’re originally from Florida. My daughters and I decided to have some fun by writing a winter book called, “The Girls Who Play in the Snow” and from there it grew. This took place in 2017.

What inspired you to write this book?

My family and I moved to Michigan in August of 2023. Within the first week of living here, I got the idea to write a fall book. My daughter came home with a project she made in school; it showed what the inside of a pumpkin looked like. In the book, there is a learning center inside the red barn where you can see the same graphic of my daughter’s project from school.

I've never been to a pumpkin patch because I'm originally from Alabama and have lived in Florida before moving to Michigan. I've never had the traditional pumpkin patch experience where you take the pumpkin from the vine. I visited my first patch after two months of writing the book. I love fall and have missed it for twenty years, so I started this series with a fall book. I wrote this story within an hour, but the production process took over nine months. When I went to Westview, I was blown away to see a red barn in front of me, described exactly in the book. Then taking a tracker to the pumpkin field. God allowed my imagination to take over, and to see it come to life was a wowing moment.

The material in the learning center I did have to research to have everything is factually correct. The experiences around the activity of pumpkin picking all came from my imagination.

Where did you get the idea to split the book in two for a girl half and a boy half?

I wrote the book this way because I have two girls (ages 12 and 10) and one boy (age 6). This way, families can follow the flow of the book regardless of whether they have a boy, girl, or both. Most families have a boy and girl within a two or three-year range. This book is rated for three to ten-year-olds, older siblings can read to their younger ones if they want to. Another inspiration of the book being interchangeable (or two in one) came from my best friend, who had a boy and a girl as twins. What Mom doesn’t like a buy one get one?

I had a booth at Blake’s, I had one gentleman asking for two girl books and one boy book. I had to reinforce to him that this book has two stories, but I can sell you three if you want. When he made the connection, he was shocked and said how amazing it was.

I always start with the girl version first and then develop the boy side. The Boy version is the same storyline, and he is going to the same pumpkin patch, but it’s a different viewpoint. The boy is a little messier and has a fun character in the story. My illustrator did any amazing job. When looking at the learning center in the Boy’s story it’s a different perspective from the Girl’s, so you get a full view point of the learning center.

This book series could be endless, I am doing the four seasons. Spring is going to be next, after spring will be summer, and finally ending with winter.

What other sections are included within this book?

When you reach the end of the Girl’s adventure you will find a section to go back and find different objects and sight words. I’ve also included a recipe for family and dog treat. Instead of a recipe for the Boy’s side I have a section called, “Let’s Get Creative” where the child can draw or place a picture of them going on an adventure. I’ve had several readers send me an email of what they draw or what they place in these sections, uploading them to my website.

How do children react when reading this book in a classroom?

When I read the book to a classroom, I never tell the kids beforehand about the book being two-sided. They see half the book upside-down when I hold the book open. They’re curious about why that is and I’m intentionally feeding that curiosity. Then when I close the book and flip it over, the kids’ faces are so surprised and excited. It’s a cute moment.

There is a bear named Chippy in the Boy’s story and is inspired by my son’s bear. I surprised my son including him in the story. Chippy joins me for book readings at different schools. An activity I do when reading the book to classrooms is counting how many times, we see Chippy throughout the story and they will say, “Hi Chippy!”. The Boy’s dog, Pickles, is one of my son’s stuffed animals which we featured in the story. On my website I have a photo of reading to my son’s class. He thought it was so funny showing the class how the book flips over into another story.

 This is a family-oriented book, I showed this at the end of the book when the family is carving the pumpkins and they roast the seeds and eat them together. At another class reading at a smaller private Christian school, we carved pumpkins together, and then we cooked the seeds together.

What’s next for this book series?

I’m excited for the next season coming out which will be on March 1st. It will expand on the characters in this first book because the Pumpkin Patch was an introduction to them. Next time they’ll be going to the Spring Festival. The Boy’s storyline will have him see planting, bugs, and bees. The Girl’s portion is her visiting a butterfly exhibit and picking flowers. This will be a great learning opportunity for the readers and to get them away from screen time while having a book to engage with the whole family. After they read the book, the kids will be curious to go outside and look at the trees, leaves, butterflies, bees, and so on.

I’m currently reaching out to different companies to become sponsors for the kids so they can get books at my readings. When I go into a classroom, I’m not just reading a book, I’m doing an education talk about what an author and illustrator do. The kids can ask questions about how the book was made. After reading the book to the class, we do an activity together where it could be painting, crafting, or carving pumpkins. Having a sponsor to help provide every child with a book after this lesson is impactful. Currently, I don’t have the means to do so myself, so the help really matters.

How has your experience with dyslexia shaped the way you write?

I like sharing my experience with dyslexia because I still switch letters and numbers to this day, especially when at a corporate job. I do events and coordinating on the side, and even when I sign the book, I must look at the word “Adventure” every time, because I’ll switch the letters around. The word Girl I switch the letters many times, but lately I’m more consistent with checking.

It was different when I was growing up, I was placed in special education classes from elementary school through high school. One of my seventh-grade teachers saw I was having a difficult time spelling my words and she let me write a story instead. Since then, I was able to easily come up with stories and let them come alive.

Having dyslexia pushed me away from reading. I see that with my middle child because of how she struggles to read certain words. Growing up I wanted other people to read for me. I didn’t understand why the words didn’t come together the way the teacher was telling me. When I was young, I would say, “That’s a b not a d”. It got better but I still have my moments. Even when I’m texting, I still mix up letters and words. My husband, my best friend, and other close people can read in between the lines because they know me very well and can tell what I was trying to say. Whereas someone else wouldn’t be able to understand my texts sometimes.

It’s not a struggle for me anymore because I feel that I’ve overcome those obstacles, and for me to step out and write a book is huge. The support of my family, husband, sister in-law, and my parents during this journey with me allowed this book to come to life. This is just one storyline where I’m getting my feet wet, there are deeper stories that I will hopefully release in a couple of years.

How they did testing when I grew up is completely different on how they approach it now because seeing it with my daughter. My daughter still had difficulties though. She is in fourth grade with a second grade reading level. When she started school COVID still had a huge impact in schools, where people still had to wear masks. Her instructor was teaching how to pronounce words, but she was wearing a mask while doing so. My daughter heard the words, but she couldn’t see how they were being pronounced, which caused a huge impacted on her understanding of the lesson. On top of having hurricanes in Florida which would cause schools to shut down for weeks, which lead to more learning obstacles for her. I know the more you practice better you get at it, so the more you read the better you’ll be at it. I did this by working with my daughter in smaller chapter books, to then build our way up to the larger chapter ones. I read my first novel three years ago, I didn’t earlier because I didn’t have that confidence. When I read it though, it was a movie that came to life in my head.

When it comes to my editors, I have three. My husband because he knows me better than anyone else. When I write, I write how I speak and then I have him fix it. My sister in-law Lauren is my second editor, and she is brilliant with punctuation. Last is my best friend, Mandy. She is the person with the twins that I mentioned earlier, she reads over the story as well because she suggests different viewpoints that I might have not thought of. 

Of course, my kids are my little editors. They are very blunt and honest. They look at the final story and I ask them what they would add, does this look good, etc. My 12-year-old is not shy and will tell me her brutally honest opinion, the other two are less critical. I’m already expecting it for Thanksgiving when it comes to the food, with them saying “That’s disgusting”. We went to a little village recently that was hosting a Hot Chocolate Crawl, and they were very blunt with their opinions saying, “That is not hot coco, that is disgusting.” I would then have to apologize to the shop people, which they would then say “That’s ok”. You need that in your life, where you have people that will be honest with you to make something better than it can be. Iron sharpens iron.

I have a friend who bought the book because her daughter struggles with dyslexia. It was very sweet to see a mom buy my book to show her daughter what is possible even if you find reading challenging. I challenge the children I read to, to write their own books and find a way to print them all together. If you want to write and print your own books, do it. It might not be on Amazon or on a bookshelf but it’s something you created. My kids make books all the time and I love doing that with them.