30. The Thanksgiving
Door
Debby Atwell
Houghton Mifflin
Company Boston, 2003
31 pages
Multicultural
Russian
I chose
this book because it is one that had been recommended to me by a parent from
the preschool I work at. I have a student whose grandparents are Russian and
the parent suggested doing this book when I was speaking to her about the
project. Ed and Ann were at home preparing the Thanksgiving dinner when Ann
burned the food. After burning the meal they decide to go to a family restaurant
who is having their family Thanksgiving dinner and forgot to close the door to
the building. Ann and Ed make themselves at home while the family tries to
scare them off. The grandmother finally speaks up and encourages the family
that Thanksgiving is a day of family bonding. When asked what he was most
thankful for later that night Ed said he was most thankful that Ann had burned
their dinner.
The
illustrations in this book are done with oil colors and composed of many warm
colors such as reds, oranges, and yellows. The illustrations capture the
festivities of Thanksgiving day and the culture in an excellent manner. The
text is in the negative space of the illustrations and each illustration is one
full page.
This book
would be great for a language arts lesson to have each student write an essay about
a different culture they are not familiar with or their own traditions for
Thanksgiving. The book would also lead into an excellent social studies lesson,
to discuss where the first Thanksgiving took place and how Thanksgiving
originated. I liked this book because it showed the importance of Thanksgiving
and families getting together and remembering all that they have to be thankful
for as well as introducing a culture students may not be familiar with such as
the Russian culture. This book does not have any awards.