The thing I love most about Thanksgiving is that it’s not like any other holiday. You don’t receive gifts, but you get to think about what you are thankful for.
My favorite thing to eat is my grandma’s pumpkin pie and her famous turkey sandwiches. That brings me to my least favorite part about Thanksgiving: getting taunted by all the amazing aromas the day before and having to eat mac and cheese instead.
The Thanksgiving Day from the Black Lagoon, by Mike Thaler with pictures by Jared Lee, points all this out to me and hopefully to you, also. The book is very funny and relaxes your brain, but later in the book there are some cool trivia questions.
The story is about Hubie and his day at school learning about Thanksgiving. His class decides to have a parade, and they choose teams to make parade floats. But no one picks Hubie. Hubie doesn’t let that get him down and decides to be a team of one, when his Mom offers to be on his team and help him. I liked this part very much, because it reminded me of my grandmum.
My favorite part of the story is when Hubie thinks of float ideas. Lee’s drawings are so funny, especially his pictures of float ideas. The best one was a float of leftovers! I don’t want to spoil the story by giving away the ending, but I will tell you that Hubie and his Mom make a very cool float.
Hubie also eats too much on Thanksgiving Day. So does his pet dog and pet frog. They all later dream about being visited by a giant bottle of Pepto Bismol!
The book has a lot of interesting facts about Thanksgiving, and it is really funny. My favorite drawing was of pilgrims and Indians hunting for turkeys. There is a huge, growling bear behind them and they are all saying, “That wasn’t my stomach,” and “It wasn’t mine, either!”
The best part about Thanksgiving is spending time with my family and friends. This book is fun to share and laugh about. So don’t be a turkey! Read this book, laugh a lot, have a good dinner, and be thankful for Pepto Bismol!
“What Kids Are Reading” is a regular feature in the Sun, highlighting children’s books available for young readers in Santa Maria. This week’s recommendation was made by Samuel Waterman, who attends 4th grade at the Laureate School and likes to read books with his grandmother, Ariel.
This article appears in Nov 23-30, 2011.