Thanksgiving: Stories and Poems

by Caroline Feller Bauer, Nadine Bernard Westcott (Illustrator)

The editor of Halloween presents a collection of Thanksgiving songs, crafts, recipes for cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, and stories by authors ranging from Jack Prelutsky to Eloise Greenfield.

Genres: Thanksgiving, Poetry, Picture Books, Nonfiction

86 pages, Library Binding

First published September 1, 1994

Reviews

[Luisa Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually really liked all of the poems in the book and would have given it four-stars, but two of the short stories were pretty lame. One was about a foreign girl that at first got picked on in school until her classmates saw her heart. Another story was about coping with a parent's divorce at Thanksgiving ...

So while I wouldn't recommend that you go out and buy this book, I'd definitely say to at least borrow it from the library so you can read all the delightful holiday poems and the rest of the short stories - they're worth it; and the lame ones can be easily skipped.


Ages: 4 - 9

Cleanliness: There's a poem with a picture of a witch and mentions goblins. In one story children aren't very friendly to a foreigner (Jew) but in the end they're friends. "My goodness" is said twice. Someone is called "dumb clucks." Mentions Santa. There is a story about a child coping with her first Thanksgiving after her parents divorced - she is grumpy and gets angry and rude to her mom. When she sees an "ideal family (both parents, kids and grandparents) having a meal together but overhears them say rude comments, she learns that "They looked like the perfect happy family. But looks could be deceiving." One poem mentions a boy lost his bathing suit in the river (implied naked). "Turkey breast" is used. A turkey gets called "Lazybones" - although he's a lazy turkey, "it pays to be lazy" on Thanksgiving.

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[Marinda (rindasreads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lydia and I enjoyed the variety in this holiday-themed collection. She especially loved the fun poems and is now begging me to try the art project. The short stories fell a little flat (except for the Supermarket Thanksgiving story, which I felt was sweet and well-written). As an early reader, she was happy that she could read some of the poetry on her own. Also, the illustrations were fantastic!

[Tristan Tuttle]

This is full of fun poems and stories but also a lot of body shaming? I wasn't expecting that for sure. When I saw it coming, I skipped over it during the read alouds.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Thanksgiving: Stories and Poems" by Caroline Feller Bauer was really good, and I enjoyed reading it for the Thanksgiving holiday. As its title suggests, it's full of stories and poems celebrating Thanksgiving. My absolute favorite stories were "Thanksgiving" by Johanna Hurwitz and "Supermarket Thanksgiving" by Caroline Feller Bauer.
Additionally, the recipes that were included complimented this collection so well: Pumpkin Pie and Cranberry Sauce. This book even consisted of a craft section called "Gooble Gooble Garland" explaining how to make a Thanksgiving decoration. My daughter will definitely love that as the years go on as I plan on revisiting this read on furture Thanksgiving holidays.
Overall, this was a really good children's book on Thanksgiving. I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys reading children's books or is trying to involve their child in reading more on the holiday.
I give it 4 stars.