In a Pumpkin Shell: A Mother Goose ABC was published by Harcourt, Brace & World in 1960. The book assigns one Mother Goose rhyme to each letter of the alphabet, with Anglund’s illustrations providing visual interpretations that combine the nursery-rhyme characters with her own artistic sensibility.
This is one of Anglund’s more functional books — it has an educational purpose (letter recognition) alongside its aesthetic and emotional ones. But the treatment is characteristically Anglund: the illustrations are delicate, the palette is soft, and the children who appear throughout have the same round, nearly featureless faces that invite projection and identification.
The Mother Goose rhymes Anglund selected tend toward the gentler end of the tradition — she avoids the more violent or disturbing nursery rhymes in favor of those that involve gardens, animals, children at play, and domestic scenes. This editorial choice is consistent with her broader project of presenting childhood as a protected, innocent space.
The book was a commercial success, particularly as a baby-shower and christening gift, and remained in print for decades. It occupies a particular niche in the crowded Mother Goose market: parents who wanted the nursery-rhyme tradition but preferred a gentle, aesthetic presentation to the more robust or humorous versions available from other illustrators.
Collecting In a Pumpkin Shell
First edition (Harcourt, Brace & World, New York, 1960): Hardcover, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $25–$60
- Very good/very good: $10–$25