This year, North Ridge Elementary students rolled up their sleeves and “squashed” the competition with their creative book-themed pumpkin designs! Organized by Library Media Specialist Aislyn Reaves, the contest encouraged students to reimagine their favorite book characters in pumpkin form. A whopping 84 pumpkins were submitted, transforming the library into a pumpkin patch straight out of a storybook.
“We wanted to give students and parents a chance to collaborate on something fun and creative. The goal was to encourage students to think beyond movie characters and dive deeper into their favorite books,” said Reaves.
This is the first time in many years that the school has hosted a pumpkin decorating contest, and the response exceeded all expectations.
Among the entries characters like Coraline, Frosty the Snowman, and Where’s Waldo made appearances, along with Dragons from Dragons Love Tacos and even critters from Where the Wild Things Are.
"It's so hard to choose favorites because each pumpkin has its own unique charm," said Reaves. “This was also an opportunity for students to come through the library and ask what character the pumpkin is decorated as. It creates a conversation about the character and then the book that they are from. This led to trying to find that book in the library to read!”
In addition to showcasing artistic talent, the project sparked students' interest in reading.
“The pumpkins created conversations about the characters and their stories. It even helped younger students who can’t read yet recognize characters from books they’ve read with their parents. Some students were so inspired they wanted to check out the books the pumpkins were based on,” said Reaves.
The winners of the pumpkin decorating contest, selected by a panel of judges, include:
- 1st Place: Sterling Covacari, Kindergarten, Alice in Wonderland
- 2nd Place: Ignacio “Zeke” Gatica, 4th Grade, Dragons Love Tacos
- 3rd Place: Ayden Garza, Pre-K, Mike Wazowski
- Library’s Choice: Allison Garcia, 5th Grade, Frosty the Snowman
- Principal’s Choice: Beckett Gastelum, 4th Grade, Hank the Cowdog
These pumpkin artists will be honored with a trophy and a certificate for the library to purchase one book of the student's choosing.
North Ridge plans to make this pumpkin decorating contest an annual tradition. The students proved that with a little imagination, you can turn pumpkins into literary masterpieces!