Thanksgiving
Wyndham
1963
We have another Thanksgiving holiday book from the olden days. This book is more the familiar story those of us of a certain age remember as the “true” story of Thanksgiving. Of course it reads a bit more sweetly and glosses over some of the rougher experiences of the Pilgrims. Not to mention under playing the role of the local natives in keeping the colonists alive that first winter.
When I was a kid, the story of the Pilgrims and the voyage of the Mayflower were central to the Thanksgiving holiday. I don’t think that is as true today. Thanksgiving seems to be the warm up act to Christmas and the Black Friday sales.
For librarians, this is the start of the season when people start asking when the tax forms will show up. If you have a long weekend, more power to you.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Mary
Even more than the dated content, the dreary two-color illustrations make the older books weed worthy. Who would pick up something so dull and unattractive?
Thanksgiving is a great holiday. You can realize the truth of how the colonists really treated the natives, but still enjoy being thankful for whatever, and for eating a truly massive quantity of food, plus having leftovers for turkey sammiches on Friday. Also you can watch the parade and the dog show.
We are gathering with a small group of fully-vaccinated friends. In normal times, we go out for something completely different on Saturday, because you can only deal with the same food a couple days in a row. If there are still leftovers, back to them on Sunday.
And we NEVER go out on Black Friday. It’s too insane, even with all the internet shopping nowadays. There’s nothing we need that’s worth being trampled.
I remember Lee Wyndham — her books were offered by the Tab/Scholastic book club. I hadn’t thought about her for years. (Here’s more: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2968599.Lee_Wyndham)
And the Thnx book is part of a series. School and public libraries bought the entire set (holidays, states, countries, sports biographies) without regard to the individual titles.