Wednesday, October 5, 2016

The Long Lost Thanksgiving book

I've always loved to read, and have kept the local library busy throughout my life.  When I was twelve or so, I was at the library digging through books and trying to find a book I hadn't read before.  I pulled out a book that I thought had an especially dopey cover, but sounded interesting. 

I was surprised how quickly I was pulled into the story, and it was a book that made me laugh a few times, and in the end, was one of the only books that made me cry when I was a kid. 

For years I tried to find this book again.  The problem I came up against was that my memory had changed the book.  I was remembering it was about a boy who was trying to save the Thanksgiving turkey.  In reality, it was about a boy trying to save the Thanksgiving goose.  One of my psychology students helped me figure this out recently when we were chatting during a break (not sure how we got on the subject!), and I ordered the book. 

It was still a book I loved reading.  I plan to read it to the boys in a couple of years.  I know this book will make them laugh, too.  It has some really great moral messages, too, about kindness for others and the importance of family bonds and hard work.

Readers, was there a book as a child that made you laugh and cry? 

14 comments:

PioneerPreppy said...

OMG Blaspheme... Goose for Thanksgiving....Never!!!!!


LOL

Tom said...

nice memories

Tina Fariss Barbour said...

That's great that you found the book! When my second grad teacher read us Charlotte's Web, I cried about Charlotte. I tried to read that book not long ago, and I had to stop because I knew how things would go.

Sunnybrook Farm said...

I think that was a TV movie but I don't remember much about it.

Monkeywrangler said...

Reading Red Sails to Capri made me laugh! It was a read-aloud book in the home school curriculum we use. The parts with his mother in the story are the best parts.

Sally said...

awwww so glad you found the book, Lisa. It's funny how just one word makes such a difference; turkey/goose. :)

xoxo

Ginny Hartzler said...

How wonderful! Will you re-read it now? When I was young, I liked Gothic novels and science fiction. And I have just now realized that neither make you either laugh or cry!! Since then I HAVE read a lot of books that do, though. Especially the All Creatures Great And Small series. And also "One hundred Years Of Silence", a South American classic.

Out on the prairie said...

I had a few that stuck with me as some of the best and used a few when I taught fluency

Harry Flashman said...

Alas, if I'd have cried in front of my father I've have got the belt. He did not tolerate that.

I'm trying to remember if, when I was little, there were any books that made me emotional. Like you, I was a voracious reader from an early age. I can't recall any books like that, though.

mail4rosey said...

Thanks for the book suggestion. I think we'll pick it up for my son to read too. I was also one to keep my local library busy. :)

An Apel a Day said...

That's great that you found this!

A book that makes me cry is The Giving Tree.

Linda said...

Glad you found it! I read so many books as a child, often in a series, like Freddie the Detective and later Nancy Drew.

Maggid said...

i'm looking for this book right away - thanks for the tip.

Anonymous said...

So glad you were able to find the book again. I have a few childhood favs that I still like to read.