Monday, November 22, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving November 25th

















An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving
by Louisa May Alcott and illustrated by Holly Johnson

A large family has had a good year and they have plenty of food from all of the hard work they had put in over the summer. The Bassett family is now preparing things for Thanksgiving. The four girls are helping their mother cook, while the two older boys are out helping their father in the yard. Their grandmother is sick, so they are going to have Thanksgiving at home this year, and the children are going to miss spending time with all of their cousins and other family members. Then a stranger comes to tell Mr. and Mrs. Bassett that Mrs. Bassett’s mother is not doing well at all, and that she should come to her immediately. The children help their mother get ready, and then their mother, father, and the baby leave. The oldest brother and sister are left in charge of the house and the chores. The children all work on their chores, have dinner, and then get ready for bed with a story about their ancestors from England. The next morning the children decide to prepare Thanksgiving dinner themselves. The girls try their best, but they are not completely sure of all of the ingredients or the exact way their mother prepares the turkey and plum pudding. Will the dinner turn out the way the children hope? Will they surprise their father when he gets home that evening to check on things?






















Who Stole Grandma’s Million-Dollar Pumpkin Pie?
by Martha Freeman

Alex Parakeet and Yasmeen Popp are playing football when Alex tells her that Zooey Bonjour, a famous television chef, is coming to his mother’s birthday party. Yasmeen wants to know more, and Alex tells her that his grandmother and Zooey have been friends for years. Alex tells Yasmeen that Zooey is interested in his grandmother’s “million-dollar pumpkin pie” recipe, and his dad will be making the pie on her show. At the birthday party, everyone who shows up brings something for Zooey Bonjour to try so they might have a chance to be on her show, but she handles the situation and tells everyone to leave their information with their dish. The next day Alex’s dad discovers that the recipe for the pumpkin pie is missing. Everyone was looking at the recipes the night before, so it would be difficult to know if someone took it. Alex’s dad does not remember the recipe, either, so it is important that they find the recipe. He was also going to make the pie for Thanksgiving. So Alex decides to get the team (the Chickadee Court Detective Agency) back together and solve the mystery of the missing recipe. Alex and Yasmeen discuss who they think could have stolen the recipe and why. Yasmeen believes the person wanted to stop Alex’s dad from going on the show so that they could go on it instead, but they are not sure that this is right. Alex and Yasmeen then find out that Zooey Bonjour had lied about her past and had gotten into trouble about it in the past. It was the reason she had lost her cooking show for a while, but her fans loved her, forgave her, and gave her another chance. However, there are other people at the party that Alex and Yasmeen feel might have stolen the recipe, too. Will they be able to figure out who it is and get the recipe back in time?



















Thanksgiving is Here!
by Diane Goode

Maggie’s Grandma and Grandpa get up early on Thanksgiving morning to start cooking the turkey. Then the family starts arriving. Maggie’s family is there first with her parents, Maggie, Peter, and baby Jack. Maggie and her family have come to help Grandma and Grandpa get Thanksgiving dinner ready. As more family keeps coming in, the furniture needs to be moved, and the table has to be set up, so that everyone will have a place to sit and eat. The family chats and helps get the food ready, and then it is time to eat. After everyone has eaten, the table is cleared, the dishes are washed, and some of the family goes out to take a walk. Some of the family stays in to rest. After the walking, the family sits around to talk some more, until it is time for dessert. After dessert is eaten, it is time to go home. Then grandma and grandpa have some time to rest.






















Duck for Turkey Day
by Jacqueline Jules and illustrated by Kathryn Mitter

In Tuyet’s class, the children make pine cone turkey, sing turkey songs, and talk about the first Thanksgiving. As everyone goes home, the teacher tells them to have a great “Turkey Day.” Tuyet decides that she needs to talk to her mother about Thanksgiving and what her family eats. She tells her mother that they need to have a turkey for Thanksgiving, but her mother tells her that they are having duck, instead. This worries Tuyet, because she feels that all of the other children in her class will be having turkey. Tuyet’s Ba Noi arrives that afternoon from New York and tells Tuyet that her family prefers duck over turkey. Tuyet decides that she will buy a turkey herself, but there is no turkey at the Saigon Supermarket that her family goes to. Tuyet puts her pine cone turkey on the table, and she feels better to have a turkey on the dinner table. Tuyet continues to feel bad about not having a turkey on Turkey Day, though. Dinner is great, and Tuyet has a great Thanksgiving Day. She worries, though, what her teacher will think when she tells her that they had duck instead of turkey. On Monday morning, the teacher had a discussion with the children about what they had done over the holidays. Tuyet sadly told her that her family had duck instead of turkey. To her surprise, though, other children told her that they had eaten noodles and chicken, lamb, roast beef, enchiladas, and tofu turkey, instead of turkey, too. Tuyet’s teacher then tells the class that all that is important about Thanksgiving is having a good time with your family and friends. Tuyet feels better about this, and that afternoon, she tells her mother that they should call Thanksgiving “Duck Day.”

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