About the Book

Pickle Bumps for Baby Dill is a fun, colorful and beautifully illustrated story that encourages young children to accept and support those with differences (i.e., it's okay to be different). Baby Dill is a dill pickle who was born without pickle bumps [Bill Dill, holding their newborn Baby Dill, said to his wife Jill, "Did you know that Baby Dill does not have any pickle bumps? Not even one!"] As the story develops, the reader meets a diverse cast of pickle and olive characters (gherkins, dills, slices, stuffed olives, black olives, etc., with names like Gert and Mertin Gherkin, Olive Pitt and Karl Kalamata). These characters play important roles in helping Baby Dill find pickle bumps and the right kind of pickle bump glue. However, in the end Baby Dill finds the neighborhood friends to be accepting ["We are all different too. We like you just the way you are."] and Baby Dill decides that being different is okay after all. Baby Dill decides to go "bumpless!"

This story has four purposes:

First, the story has a dual message of acceptance and support, that diversity is good and it's okay to be different. By their very nature, pickles and olives (dills, gherkins, stuffed olives, black olives, etc.) are a diverse lot. What better way to introduce young children (who, incidentally, usually love pickles) to the ideas of diversity.
It is meant to be read out loud to (or by) young children, who will find the story to be both fun and entertaining. For example, it can be hard to read the passage: "Karl Kalamata's Pickle Bump Glue Store had yellow pickle bump glue and blue pickle bump glue, but it did not have any green pickle bump glue," out loud without getting a little "tangled" up. This adds to the fun for both the reader and the listener.
The story will acquaint children with different kinds of pickles and olives (Gert and Mertin Gherkin, Brad and Betty Sweetpickle, Olive Pitt, etc.) who are the characters.
As a children's picture book with colorful characters (a variety of green pickles, stuffed olives, purple Kalamata olives, etc.), and about colors (mixing yellow pickle bump glue with blue pickle bump glue results in green pickle bump glue), the story is indeed a colorful one.