A Turkey for Thanksgiving is a cute story about a moose who’s wife wants a Turkey for Thanksgiving so he goes out in the search for one. Throughout the book you assume he is searching for a turkey to eat but in the end the story surprises you because Mrs. Moose just wanted a turkey as a guest at their Thanksgiving dinner, not to eat.
This is a Turkey is the story of a young boys family at Thanksgiving. He describes his families traditions, primarily the foods, and the turkey has a little unexpected unadventure.
The Great Turkey Walk was a new book for us this year. GREAT story. To sum it up- the year is 1860 and Simon Green, a brawny 15 year old, who lives in Missouri, is "graduated" from school after his fourth year of third grade. Wondering what to do next, he seizes upon the complaint of a local turkey farmer: that birds worth $5 in turkey-starved boomtown Denver are worth only 25 cents in Missouri. With the financial assistance of his beloved former teacher, who risks her life savings to help him, Simon buys 1000 birds. Hi adopted family loans him a wagon, feed corn, mules, and he finds the partnership of a washed-up mule driver and begins a 800-mile trek to Denver with his turkeys. Along the way, Simon matures from a good-hearted and sensible (if not booksmart) boy to a good-hearted, sensible, and potentially wealthy young man. Joined en route by a runaway slave and the sole survivor of a homesteading family, Simon gains his first true friend. The story is full of real facts on turkeys in the story lines so we learned a lot about turkeys while reading this book. It is such a fun story full of adventure and courage!
What would Thanksgiving be without handprint turkeys?
And how about some turkey cookies........
Did You Know?
*According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 45 million turkeys are cooked and eaten in the U.S. at Thanksgiving—that's one sixth of all turkeys sold in the U.S. each year. American per capita consumption of turkeys has soared from 8.3 pounds in 1975 to 18.5 pounds in 1997. Ten years later, the number has dropped slightly in 2007 to 17.5 pounds.
*Turkeys are the only breed of poultry native to the Western Hemisphere.
*Turkeys have great hearing, but no external ears. They can also see in color, and have excellent visual acuity and a wide field of vision (about 270 degrees), which makes sneaking up on them difficult. However, turkeys have a poor sense of smell (what's cooking?), but an excellent sense of taste.
*Domesticated turkeys cannot fly. Wild turkeys, however, can fly for short distances at speeds up to 55 miles per hour. They can also reach speeds of 25 miles per hour on the ground.
*Turkeys sometimes spend the night in trees.
*Turkeys can have heart attacks: turkeys in fields near the Air Force test areas over which the sound barrier was broken were known to drop dead from the shock of passing jets.
*The ballroom dance known as the Turkey Trot was named for the short, jerky steps a turkey makes.
“You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You'll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left”
~ Dr. Seuss
