One night when I was lying in my warm and cosy bed, A shadow at the window stood the hair upon my head. I grabbed my biggest teddy bear and lifted up the blind, And what I saw was so unreal it nearly blew my mind!

Thus begins the story of The Pumpkin Eater of Pondicherry, a voracious creature known to travel considerable distances for a decent feed of pumpkins. But when the beast turns up late at night in Granddad’s veggie patch, the young narrator must act quickly if he is going to save his Granddad’s prize pumpkins. Written by Melbourne author Bruce Atherton (Tough Ol Teddy, The Billycart Ride, Al Dentay and the Incredible Spaghetti Machine) and illustrated by Ben Redlich (Whacko the Chook, Who Flung Dung?), The Pumpkin Eater is a fabulous fable about monstrous greed and childhood ingenuity.