Thanksgiving is “a day we give thanks for all the good things we have
and cook a big meal to share with friends.” This is how Christopher
Robin describes the holiday in the Winnie the Pooh Golden Book The Best Thanksgiving Day,
and it feels like a pretty fitting description, particularly for this
close-knit gang. It’s no surprise that once they know what Thanksgiving
is, they want to participate.
What is a bit surprising
is that when Tigger, left without a specific task in preparation from
the celebration, asks Owl what he should bring, Owl suggests, “Why don’t
you bring the turkey?” I know that owls are naturally birds of prey,
but it seems just a little odd to me to have Owl suggest making a meal
out of a fellow bird.
Although Owl never says as much, since
he prides himself on being the most knowledgeable resident of the
forest, I take it for granted that he knows about Thanksgiving already,
but the book doesn’t give me the impression that anyone else does, so
it’s also a little strange to hear Roo and Rabbit drooling over the
prospect of a turkey when Christopher Robin never mentioned it and when
just about every meal in the Hundred-Acre Wood seems to be vegetarian.
Thankfully, author Ann Braybrooks spares us the sight of Tigger trying
to bring down a turkey. When Tigger hears he should bring the turkey, he
assumes that can only mean one thing: find a turkey and invite it to
dinner. So that’s exactly what he does, though it isn’t so easy to
convince a protective mother turkey, on Thanksgiving of all days, to go
along with a stranger to a feast. With the hour of the dinner quickly
approaching, Tigger feels like a failure, but all’s well that ends well
in this cheery holiday tale.
The Best Thanksgiving Day
is a cute book, but along with the strangeness of everyone suddenly
developing a taste for turkey, I also can’t help but wonder, Doesn’t Christopher Robin have his own feast to go to?
Of course, I suppose that he could be skipping out after his family’s
own Thanksgiving dinner, but if that’s the case, how can he manage to
eat anything else? And though Gopher is present in the pictures, why
doesn’t the text mention him at all? And where, oh where, does Tigger
come up with a turkey costume at such short notice?
So this
isn’t really among my favorite Pooh books, but it’s still a cute story,
and it’s even a bit educational, as one page identifies a crow, some
sparrows and a quail and her babies. Additionally, the illustrations,
provided by Arkadia, are quite lovely, showing us the Hundred-Acre Wood
in the midst of autumn’s full glory. It’s also nice to see Tigger so
determined to be helpful. So while it’s a rather odd story, The Best Thanksgiving Day is still a book worth reading as November draws to a close.
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