One would think by the title, The Ugly Pumpkin by Dave Horowitz, is a seasonal story, but it isn’t. This book is not about Halloween and you can read it all-year-round. The Ugly Pumpkin is a story about finding one’s identity. The Ugly Pumpkin is a picture book and a story told in rhyme. In the story, the ugly pumpkin wants people to pick him for Halloween. Instead, others tease him, exclude him, or commit violence against him. This makes the ugly pumpkin very sad and lonely. By the end of the story, the ugly pumpkin finds others like himself, discovers his true identity, and finds a place where he belongs.
Out of the batch of books borrowed from the local library recently, the young children I read to ask to have this particular book read to them the most. Initially, it was funny to them to hear me call the pumpkin “ugly,” but I tried to emphasize that the way the others treated him was not right. It was bad and mean to mistreat the pumpkin for the way he looked. Eventually, the more I read it, the more the kids focused their attention on how wrong it was for the others to treat the ugly pumpkin so badly rather than their focusing on how funny it is to call the pumpkin “ugly.”
As much as diversity is shoved down our throats by teachers, professors, politicians, and media personalities, the reality is that Americans are unequal. The majority of Americans use differences to create and maintain inequalities. In any highly stratified society, the majority of people in positions of wealth, prestige, and power will always mistreat others, who are impoverished, stigmatized, and powerless. Opposite human beings do not attract, because human beings are not subatomic particles. Human beings are social animals. In the social world of humanity, likeness attracts. Does the bourgeoisie make friends with welfare recipients, even if they donate money to food banks, soup kitchens, or homeless shelters? Would that politician you vote for every election cycle ever speak to you outside of election season? Would that celebrity, whose brand of merchandise you buy, ever speak to you outside of a public relations and marketing campaign where photos are taken of them standing next to the little people, who enrich them? The majority of people, who hold wealth, prestige, and power, would never associate with people, whom they believe are less themselves due to differences in wealth, prestige, and power, if they do not gain something by doing so temporarily such as gaining a tax break, gaining votes for an upcoming election, gaining more wealth from product sales, or gaining a “good” public image through charitable acts to distract the public from their normally unethical characteristics and behaviors. Sameness attracts. Similarities attract. For people, opposites do not attract.
The ugly pumpkin was finally able to become happy when he found others like himself. By doing so, he discovered his own identity. Others like himself welcomed him and accepted him as he was. Why not? After all, the ugly pumpkin looked the same or similar to themselves. The others, who looked like himself, did not tease him, exclude him, or commit violence against him. The ugly pumpkin was safe around others, who looked like himself. The ugly pumpkin was surrounded by equals. Based on the illustration at the end of book, it looks like the ugly pumpkin even found love. He was not really an ugly pumpkin at all. His identity was simply mislabeled as he measured himself against pumpkins. Now, that the ugly pumpkin found others like himself and discovered his true identity, he never has to feel sad and lonely for the way he looks.
I highly recommend this book to read to small children any time of the year, because the message of the book is applicable all-year-round. Firstly, the story can illustrate to children that it is unethical to tease, exclude, or commit violence against someone just because the person looks differently. Secondly, children and adults should learn that people needs to be around people, who looks like themselves. This is an important lesson year-round. Rather than teach children lies about diversity, why not teach them the truth about the way society really is. The world is diverse. The United States of America is diverse, but you are not equal. The only ways an impoverished, stigmatized, and powerless person can find freedom, equality, and happiness is to find and live around people, who are like themselves in one way or another. Children need to learn that it is okay to seek out others, who look like themselves, to find their identity, freedom, equality, safety, and happiness.
Reference
Horowitz, Dave. The Ugly Pumpkin. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2005.
Links:
The Ugly Pumpkin at Dave Horowitz’s website
The Ugly Pumpkin at Amazon.com
The Ugly Pumpkin at Barnes & Noble
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