Thanksgiving Rules

Friedman's title for this work is a double entendre that both cheers for the holiday and hints at the guidance provided within it. In rhyming verse, narrator Percy Isaac Gifford (yes, pig) announces that he is a Thanksgiving expert whose list of 10 rules is essential information for everyone. From "smile and say pumpkin pie" to "life is sweeter when you eat sweets," Percy dashes through the holiday jotting off bits of wisdom to enhance the most food eccentric day of the year. Young readers may begin to feel nauseated by the time they reach his "Official Thanksgiving Decree," urging the reader to eat "EVERYTHING" and listing more than three dozen types of foods that might be found on the Thanksgiving buffet. But they will feel better once they pass the dessert page and find rule #10, "A hug makes the heart grow fonder." Even food-hound Percy knows that Thanksgiving isn't just about the buffet, but a "day to show your loved ones what they mean to you." There are no pilgrims to be found in the pages of this book, and no stiff history lessons. Instead, readers get a rollicking good romp through food and family festivities. Teachers may find this lively Thanksgiving book useful for launching discussion of students' own holiday practices or favorite Thanksgiving foods. This children's book is for kids reading levels ages 4-8. Leave us your comments. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Let us know what other children's books you would like to have reviewed. Share this post with your family and friends. Remember to always praise your child.

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Thanksgiving Rules

Thanksgiving Mice!

The origins of Thanksgiving are detailed by a group of mice as they put on a play for their animal friends. Cushman's cheerful spreads show the little creatures using handmade props and putting their all into this neighborhood production. The characters are charming and the colors are vibrant. Where pictures appear in a smaller frame, objects often extend into the borders for visual appeal. The problem comes with the text. Short rhyming stanzas at first seem to offer a pleasing read-aloud pattern, only to dissolve into an odd scheme, and readers may constantly try to recover a poetic balance that isn't there. Another problem comes with fictionalizing the Pilgrims as mice and keeping true to the Thanksgiving account. These diminutive Pilgrims wear clothes, sail on the Mayflower, suffer a hard winter, and plant corn, but that continuity breaks when "They built new homes in tree trunks-" instead of houses. There is a scarcity of Thanksgiving books for this age group that can adequately explain the historical significance of the holiday in very simple terms. Halloween Mice! (Clarion, 1995) by the same duo hit upon a combination of text and pictures that works very well, but it isn't trying to tie in a historical concept. If you aren't overly concerned with an odd poetic structure or a break in the logic of mice as Pilgrims, then this kids book should fill a gap in read-aloud Thanksgiving material for the younger set. This children's book is for kids reading levels ages 4-8. Leave us your comments. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Let us know what other children's books you would like to have reviewed. Share this post with your family and friends. Remember to always praise your child.

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Thanksgiving Mice!