1 Henry Hardy lived outside of Rivertown. It was in a valley right next to a calm river. Henry's home was on top of a hill just outside of town.
2 Henry liked to stand and watch the boats go up and down the river. Sometimes they stopped at the town. He wondered what it would be like to travel on one.
3 Rivertown was not very large, but it did have a big town square. In the center of the square was a massive clock tower. Every hour the clock would toll, telling the people what time it was.
4 School was out for the summer, but Henry had to work on the farm. He wished he could have a plot of ground all his own in the garden. He wanted to grow the things he liked the best. He asked and asked. Finally, Mom gave him five pumpkin seeds to plant in the compost pile. That could be his garden. If they grew well, he could sell the pumpkins.
5 Henry planted the seeds. In just a few days, the five new pumpkin plants were up. They grew quickly. It wasn't long before there were flowers on the plants. Henry was happy. He knew that flowers must form before pumpkins.
6 Every day, he walked out to his pumpkin patch with a bucket of water. He knew that pumpkin plants needed a lot of water to grow big pumpkins.
7 Each plant set several pumpkins. All except one-it set just one pumpkin, and one was all it needed.
8 Every day, the pumpkins grew bigger, but that one outgrew them all. In a week, it was the size of a normal full-grown pumpkin. In two weeks, it was the size of a wheelbarrow. At the end of a month, it was as big as a small car!
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