Pattan’s Pumpkin: An Indian Flood story

Pattan and his wife Kanni are farmers living on the banks of a mighty river in India.  One day Pattan finds an ‘ailing’ plant, brings it back to his hut and tends it carefully. The plant thrives in its new home and produces not only beautiful flowers but a pumpkin, which grows and grows and GROWS! When the rains come, flooding the land, Pattan decides they must evacuate, but how can they take the animals with them? He has a brainwave. Pattan cuts an enormous hole into his gigantic pumpkin, hollowing it out so there is room for Pattan himself, his wife, their animals and plenty of food too.  While the rains come the pumpkin saves them from the flood until eventually the rain stops and they reach dry land again.

Based on a traditional tale from Sothern India, Pattan’s Pumpkin is an enjoyable and well told flood story with a pumpkin becoming the Ark which rescues a farmer, his wife and animals from a probable watery fate. The idea of escape inside a giant pumpkin is reminiscent of other Indian folk tales such as ‘The Old Woman and the Red Pumpkin’. This picture book is a visual delight with vibrant illustrations and an appealingly childlike painterly style, richly coloured and full of detail.