Mashed potatoes
And other Thanksgiving disasters
Murphy
1994
Someone had to remind me that this week is Thanksgiving. It’s one of my favorite holidays because it really does not require anything other than a bit of India and the Detroit Lions fail to win a football game. We usually publish fiction on Friday, but since I have a title for Thanksgiving, we will present it before the holiday.
It is designed for the middle elementary set. The family is getting ready for the holiday when mom is called to help a sick relative. Mom places an order at a local place because she will not be there to cook. (Obviously Dad is not too good at cooking either.) Megan decides that this is not how they should make Thanksgiving dinner and cancels the order. She’s going to come up and cook. Of course, nothing goes as planned and Megan realizes that her dinner is quickly turning into a disaster. However, she eventually realizes that Thanksgiving is really about family togetherness.
Not a bad choice. There are not really many contemporary fiction options for the upper middle school / elementary age group that include a Thanksgiving theme. It kind of feels like someone has decided we need a fiction book that presents Thanksgiving, and the premise feels forced.
Mary
