Trading Pumpkins
Trading Pumpkins
Kyria Abrahams
Tammy lives on the Little Acres Farm with her family. It
has been in her family for generations now. They have
almost everything on the farm, including apple trees
and corn. For animals, they have cows, chickens, horses
and pigs. The only problem is, they don’t have many
pumpkins.
In October, they sell tickets to the farm, and create a
maze made of hay bales. They call this “The Haunted
Maze.” However, people like to see pumpkins on
Halloween, and the farm doesn’t have very good
pumpkins. For some reason, they never grow properly.
People who visit in October always complain about the
lack of pumpkins.
The funny thing about Little Acres is that it’s actually
enormous. In fact, it’s the biggest farm in the area.
There used to be a bunch of small farms in the area, but
they couldn’t compete with Little Acres. After a while,
they all agreed to sell their property to Tammy’s family.
All except for one farm: The Shelbys’. The Shelbys
won’t sell their farm under any circumstances.
Supposedly, the Little Acres Farm will go to Tammy
when she grows up. She isn’t all that interested,
though. She likes having the Haunted Maze, but she
thinks it would be better with pumpkins.
One morning, Tammy’s father called a family
meeting.
“The Shelby Farm is planning a Haunted
Maze this year,” Dad said.
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Trading Pumpkins
“Oh no!” said Tammy’s mother. “That means they are
going to compete with us. They’ll take away our
business!”
“Well, we’ll just have to make ours bigger and better,”
Tammy suggested. “How can we do that without
decent pumpkins?” Tammy’s brother asked.
“I need someone in this family to go over to the farm
and see what they are up to,” Dad said. “Tammy, you’re
very diplomatic, so I want that to be you. Can I trust
you to do a good job?”
“Of course you can, Dad!” she said. “I’ll find out what’s
going on and come back with a full report!”
Tammy felt like a spy from Little Acres Farm. Early the
next morning, she awoke, and took her bicycle from the
barn. She rode for quite a while, with a basket on the
front of her bike. Her wheels were wobbling on the
dusty country road. When she got to the farm, Mr.
Shelby was staring at piles of hay in front of the barn.
He was scratching his head and looking confused. In his
hand was a bright orange pumpkin.
“Hello, Mr. Shelby,” Tammy yelled from the driveway.
Mr. Shelby didn’t seem at all suspicious. He didn’t know
she was a spy. “I was just coming by to see if you...” She
paused. She hadn’t thought about what to say ahead of
time. “I wanted to see if you had any pumpkins.”
“Don’t you have any pumpkins over at the farm?” Mr.
Shelby asked.
“Well,” said Tammy. “Sort of. But...I thought maybe
yours were...” She stalled for a minute, not wanting to
lie, but not knowing what to say. “More orange?”
“You thought my pumpkins might be more orange?” he
asked. “Yeah. Our pumpkins are kinda green and they
don’t grow properly.” Mr. Shelby shook his head.
“Tammy, why are you really here?”
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Trading Pumpkins
A shaky feeling rose in Tammy’s chest. She started to
breathe heavily out of fear. She was frozen in place,
unsure of what to do next.
“Tammy? Why are you here?”
And then, quite suddenly, Tammy ran right at Mr.
Shelby. He looked very startled and let out a small yelp.
He didn’t move out of the way. After all, he was six‐
feet‐tall, and she was just a child. She lunged at Mr.
Shelby and snatched the pumpkin right out of his hand!
“What on earth?” he exclaimed. “That’s a ten dollar
pumpkin!”
Tammy put the pumpkin in the basket on
her bike, and started pedaling down the driveway.
“I’m going to tell your parents about this!” he said,
shaking his fist in the air. “They’ll have to pay for that
pumpkin! You owe me ten dollars!”
Tammy was halfway home before she realized what she
had done. The dust from the dirt road kicked up all
around her, and turned the bright orange pumpkin into
a dusty shade of brown. When she got home, she
showed the pumpkin to Dad.
“You stole a pumpkin?” he asked. “You were supposed
to find out information about their Haunted Maze, and
you just stole a pumpkin?” Dad was so disappointed.
Tammy looked at the ground and blushed. “I’m sorry. I
panicked!”
She really had panicked. She’d never stolen anything
before in her entire life, and here she not only took
something from Mr. Shelby, but took it right out of his
hands!
“I thought I could trust you to be diplomatic!” Dad took
the pumpkin from Tammy and got in his car. He left the
driveway, and turned in the direction of the Shelbys’
farm. He was returning the pumpkin.
About three hours passed while Tammy waited for her
father to return. When he finally did, he was not only
holding the one pumpkin, but a whole basket full of
pumpkins!
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Trading Pumpkins
“Did you steal more pumpkins?” Tammy asked.
“Of course not,” her father said. “We brokered a
trade.”
“A trade? For what?”
“Yes. Well, first of all, I apologized to Mr. Shelby on
your behalf. He knows that you know what you did was
wrong, and that you just panicked.”
“That’s true. But what are you trading?”
“I told him that as an apology for your theft, you would
go back over to the farm, and teach him how to make a
haunted hay maze.”
“But Dad—”
“I had a very long talk with Mr. and Mrs. Shelby. We
came to the realization that we’d all be better off if we
worked together on the maze instead of competing.
After all, stealing that pumpkin and running away didn’t
work very well, did it?”
Tammy nodded. It hadn’t been a very good plan. And
the Shelbys did have a great big barn. Her father
handed her $10. She knew what to do with it.
Tammy got on her bike and rode back to the Shelbys’.
When she got there, she gave him $10 and apologized
for stealing the pumpkin. He said he forgave her and
immediately put her to work.
She showed Mr. Shelby how to stack the hay to create
a difficult maze. She showed him how to set up the
decorations, how to dress up like a scary monster, and
stand right at the entrance. Then he gave her pumpkins
to take home. It had been a good day’s work.
When Halloween came, Tammy’s family went to the
Shelbys’ farm. At the end of the driveway was a sign
that said: The Shelbys’ and Little Acres Farms present
The Haunted Hay Maze.
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Trading Pumpkins
“Hey there, Tammy!” Mr. Shelby said, waving her over.
“Would you like some hot apple cider to celebrate our
new maze?”
“I sure would!”
Tammy had initially gone to the farm to spy on Mr.
Shelby, and maybe even sabotage him. But it turned
out that working together was a better idea, at least for
now.
© 2013 ReadWorks®, Inc. All rights reserved.
Questions: Trading Pumpkins
Name: Date: _______________________
1. What does Tammy’s family build every
Halloween?
A a haunted house
B a maze of pumpkins
C anobstaclecourse
D a hay maze
2. What main problem does Tammy’s family have?
A Their Halloween maze doesn’t have good
pumpkins.
B The Little Acres Farm cannot compete with larger
farms.
C Noonewantstovisittheir“HauntedMaze”thisyear.
D Tammy stole a pumpkin from Mr. Shelby.
3. Tammy’s family is worried about the Shelby Farm
hay maze. What evidence from the passage supports
this conclusion?
A Mr. Shelby questions Tammy about why she is at
his farm.
B Tammy’s father sends Tammy to get information
about Shelby Farm.
CPeoplewhovisitLittleAcrescomplainaboutthelackofpu
mpkins.
D Tammy suggests that they make their hay maze
bigger than the Shelbys’.
4. Read the following sentences: “When she got to
the farm, Mr. Shelby was staring at piles of hay in
front of the barn. He was scratching his head and
looking confused. In his hand was a bright orange
pumpkin.” Based on this information, what can you
conclude about Mr. Shelby?
A He does not know where the hay came from.
B He does not know why he is holding a pumpkin.
C Heistiredanddoesnotwanttoworkanymore.
D He doesn’t know how to build a hay maze.
5. What is a main message of the story?
.
A Sometimes it’s better to work together than to
compete with each other.
.
B Pumpkins are the most important decoration on
Halloween.
.
C You should never steal something from a
person’s hands.
.
D Owning and running a family farm is hard work.
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© 2014 ReadWorks®, Inc. All rights reserved.
Questions: Trading Pumpkins
6. Read the following sentences: “‘Well,’ said
Tammy. ‘Sort of. But...I thought maybe yours
were...’ She stalled for a minute, not wanting to lie,
but not knowing what to say. ‘More orange?’”
As used in this sentence, what does “stalled” most
nearly mean?
A told the truth
B yelled out loud
C delayed
D told a lie
7. Choose the answer that best completes the
sentence below.
_________ of competing against
each other, Little Acres and Shelby Farm agree to
work
together .
A Obviously
B Instead
C Inclosing
D Meanwhile
8. Why is Tammy’s family worried about Shelby
Farm’s hay maze?
__________________________________________
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© 2014 ReadWorks®, Inc. All rights reserved.
Questions: Trading Pumpkins
9. What trade does Tammy’s father make with Mr.
Shelby?
__________________________________________
____________________________
__________________________________________
____________________________
__________________________________________
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10. Explain why it is better for Little Acres and
Shelby Farm to work together on the hay maze,
instead of competing against each other.
__________________________________________
____________________________
__________________________________________
____________________________
__________________________________________
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____________________________
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© 2014 ReadWorks®, Inc. All rights reserved.