I live in Northeast Ohio, where we have four distinct seasons—fall, winter, spring, and traffic cones. I kid, sort of. Anyway, my point is, fall is my favorite season, and we have excellent pumpkin patches here, with apple picking, corn mazes, apple cider slushies, pony rides, and pumpkin everything, much like the setting of Pumpkin Heads the graphic novel by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks.

This is an intensely sweet and nostalgic story that made me immediately yearn for fall to get here. It’s set over the course of just one night at DeKnock’s World Famous Pumpkin Patch & Autumn Jamboree, the last night that best work buddies Deja and Josiah will work together before going off to college on their separate ways. There’s no big story arc here. Pumpkin Heads is a collection of small moments, of chasing crushes and unrequited love, of friendships and saying goodbye, of troublemaking kids and runaway goats, of Frito Pie, succotash, and other tasty fall treats. In a few short hours Deja and Josiah learn a lot about each other and themselves.

I first discovered Faith Erin Hicks back when she was doing web comics, and was immediately drawn to her line work and storytelling style. Now she’s a rising star in the graphic novel world. Her work includes the Nameless City trilogy, Friends With Boys, The Adventures of Superhero Girl (one of my favorites) and the young adult novel, Comics Will Break Your Heart. Her work here is assured and expressive. She captures the setting with perfect detail, and her characters’s emotions are clear and beautifully drawn.

I’m sure Rainbow Rowell needs no introduction—her novels include bestsellers like Eleanor & Park, Carry On and Wayward Son. Somewhat shockingly, I haven’t yet read anything of hers, but after Pumpkin Heads that will change. I love her dialogue here. It carries a surprising amount of emotional heft in a minimum of words. Her storytelling is warm and natural, and the combination of her words and Hicks art is a match made in heaven, or maybe a heavenly pumpkin patch.