How important is Pumpkin Angel to the celebration of Halloween?
I think Pumpkin Angel is to Halloween what Santa Claus is to Christmas. First of all, Pumpkin Angel loves, loves, loves pumpkin pie. That's how she got her name. Every autumn Pumpkin Angel flies down to Earth to bless the pumpkins and make them grow. On Halloween, she unlocks the Doomsday Door, allowing ghosts, goblins, and ghouls to come out of the underworld and trick-or-treat with real-life boys and girls. Then she makes sure these creatures return to the underworld, with lots of treats, and locks them in again with her skeleton key. At dawn the next day Pumpkin Angel flies back to Heaven in her pumpkin chariot with a sky-high stack of pumpkin pies.
Why are there no pictures in your children's book about Halloween?
I am an author, not an artist, so I am just telling the story in words, not pictures. I expect parents to read my book together with their children. I hope they will imagine the pictures, characters, and scenes from their own ethnic, religious, family, or other background. I think that parents who read my book aloud with their children are like the storytellers of ancient times. They paint the story in a child's mind with words alone.
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