To Gobble...Or Not to Gobble! Just A Special Thanksgiving by Mercer Mayer

IT WAS THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL BEFORE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY.

MY CLASS WAS MAKING PROJECTS TO TAKE HOME.

MISS KITTY SAID, "DON'T FORGET THE SCHOOL PLAY TONIGHT!"

Little Critter hurries home so that his mother can put the finishing feathers on his turkey costume, and he looks very festive as he shakes his fine feathered tail.

But when it's time for his big line in the play, Little Critter has a unexpected case of serious stage fright.

"JUST SAY 'GOBBLE, GOBBLE'!" WHISPERS HIS FRIEND."

Miss Kitty coaches frantically from the wings, but Little Critter can't open his beak! But then...

"I SURPRISED EVERYONE BY SINGING A SONG INSTEAD."

Everyone claps for Critter's bit of improvisational theater, and the show goes on!

Flushed with his thespian success, at the big Thanksgiving Parade the next day Little Critter continues to improvise.  Marching with his Scout troop, he gets a bit weary, and hops a ride on a nearby float.  As the float goes by, he waves cheerfully at his parents.

"THEY DIDN'T LOOK TOO HAPPY."

Shopping for groceries, he spills the cranberries all over the floor and Dad has to help pick them up. Then it's home again to put together the big holiday feast. But Mom and Dad have a little something unexpected up their Thanksgiving sleeves. They don't set the big table with their best china and carry in the turkey with the usual flourish.  Instead, they load the food in the car!

"WE'RE HAVING A SURPRISE COMMUNITY DINNER!" THEY SAID.

It's a Thanksgiving spread as big as the Pilgrims and Indians had, as the everyone gets together at the community center and Little Critter and Sis even help serve, in Mercer Mayer's festive new holiday story, Little Critter: Just a Special Thanksgiving (Harper Festival, 2015). For some reason, there has been a dearth of new Thanksgiving picture books this year, so Mercer Mayer's new book, marking Little Critter's fortieth anniversary, is a welcome addition to the shelves. This new one is an inexpensive but full-dress picture book which catches just the right note for this American celebration, with a reassuring message of community that reinforces the Thanksgiving spirit.