{"id":82562,"date":"2025-08-17T11:46:25","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T15:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/?p=82562"},"modified":"2025-08-17T11:46:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T15:46:25","slug":"book-feature-hour-of-the-pumpkin-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-hour-of-the-pumpkin-queen\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>Book Feature:<\/strong> <em>Hour of the Pumpkin Queen<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Megan Shepherd, Author<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-81936\" src=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Book-Feature-2-Hour-of-the-Pumkin-Queen_high-res-copy-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"379\" \/>Megan Shepherd\u2019s latest book, <em>Hour of the Pumpkin Queen<\/em>, continues a series set in the world of Tim Burton\u2019s film,<em> The Nightmare Before Christmas<\/em>. An award-winning author from Brevard, Shepherd, who writes Gothic young adult books and loves the worlds that Burton creates, was on Disney\u2019s radar. \u201cSeveral years ago, I auditioned to write a <em>Beauty and the Beast<\/em> spin-off book series for Disney,\u201d Shepherd says. \u201cI didn\u2019t get selected for that job, but I maintained a good relationship with the editor. Years later, when I mentioned to my agent that I was between projects and wanted something different and not too time-consuming, she connected me back with that editor at Disney.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shepherd lauds <em>The Nightmare Before Christmas<\/em> for its creativity. \u201cIt makes so many bold choices that I didn\u2019t see other movies taking in its era,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd it has stood up to the passage of time.\u201d Besides the movie\u2019s enduringly popular songs and main characters, fans also love Sally the Rag Doll, the subject of the <em>Pumpkin Queen<\/em> book series. \u201cI think the reason her series has taken off is all because of what a compelling character she is,\u201d Shepherd adds. \u201cWhen it comes to a young adult audience, it\u2019s all about finding your place in the world. And that\u2019s exactly what Sally is trying to do in the series. She\u2019s a doll in a land of monsters, who becomes a queen\u2014but still has to struggle with what that means.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hour of the Pumpkin Queen, <em>July 2025, young adult, hardcover, $19.99, by Megan Shepherd, and published by Penguin Random House\/Disney Publishing, New York, NY. Learn more at <a href=\"http:\/\/MeganShepherd.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MeganShepherd.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Megan Shepherd\u2019s latest book, Hour of the Pumpkin Queen, continues a series set in the world of Tim Burton\u2019s film, The Nightmare Before Christmas. An award-winning author from Brevard, Shepherd, who writes Gothic young adult books and loves the worlds that Burton creates, was on Disney\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":81936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-literature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Book Feature: Hour of the Pumpkin Queen - The Laurel of Asheville<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Megan Shepherd\u2019s latest book, Hour of the Pumpkin Queen, continues a series set in the world of Tim Burton\u2019s film, The Nightmare Before Christmas. An award-winning author from Brevard, Shepherd, who writes Gothic young adult books and loves the worlds that Burton creates, was on Disney\u2019s radar.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-hour-of-the-pumpkin-queen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book Feature: Hour of the Pumpkin Queen - The Laurel of Asheville\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Megan Shepherd\u2019s latest book, Hour of the Pumpkin Queen, continues a series set in the world of Tim Burton\u2019s film, The Nightmare Before Christmas. An award-winning author from Brevard, Shepherd, who writes Gothic young adult books and loves the worlds that Burton creates, was on Disney\u2019s radar.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-hour-of-the-pumpkin-queen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Laurel of Asheville\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thelaurelofasheville\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-17T15:46:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Book-Feature-2-Hour-of-the-Pumkin-Queen_high-res-copy-2-e1755445566432.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1032\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"580\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amy Pryor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AshevilleLaurel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AshevilleLaurel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amy Pryor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-hour-of-the-pumpkin-queen\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-hour-of-the-pumpkin-queen\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Amy Pryor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13d76582350fe4093b37d2b69174af00\"},\"headline\":\"Book Feature: Hour of the Pumpkin Queen\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-17T15:46:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-hour-of-the-pumpkin-queen\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":291,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-hour-of-the-pumpkin-queen\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/Book-Feature-2-Hour-of-the-Pumkin-Queen_high-res-copy-2-e1755445566432.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Arts\",\"Literature\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-hour-of-the-pumpkin-queen\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-hour-of-the-pumpkin-queen\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-hour-of-the-pumpkin-queen\\\/\",\"name\":\"Book Feature: Hour of the Pumpkin Queen - The Laurel of Asheville\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-hour-of-the-pumpkin-queen\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-hour-of-the-pumpkin-queen\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/Book-Feature-2-Hour-of-the-Pumkin-Queen_high-res-copy-2-e1755445566432.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-17T15:46:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13d76582350fe4093b37d2b69174af00\"},\"description\":\"Megan Shepherd\u2019s latest book, Hour of the Pumpkin Queen, continues a series set in the world of Tim Burton\u2019s film, The Nightmare Before Christmas. 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