Turkey Pox - Hardcover

Kindergarten-Grade 3?Charity's family is rushing around cooking, cleaning, and packing for the annual trek to grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner. It isn't until her brother Fred sings a song en route about Charity and her spots that her parents stop what they are doing long enough to realize that the child has the chicken pox. The car turns around, heads home, and Thanksgiving, for Charity, is ruined. With the help of some hungry snow plowers, though, Grandma is able to surprise Charity and her family by coming to them with all of the typical Thanksgiving trimmings, complete with a surprise addition bound to get a smile from any child who has had the chicken pox. Watercolor and marker illustrations dominate each page with a profusion of color that almost makes a rainbow seem dull. Donohue mixes patterns and geometric shapes well; checks, stripes, and floral motifs all blend harmoniously on any given page. Turkey Pox serves as both an unusual holiday story and as a rousing complement to other pox books such as Marc Brown's Arthur's Chicken Pox (Little, 1994).?Lisa Marie Gangemi, Sousa Elementary School, Port Washington, NY
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 4^-7. Anxious for her favorite roast turkey dinner at Nana's, Charity is up at dawn, scratching and watching as her family prepares for Thanksgiving. On the snowy drive to Grandmother's house, Charity's chicken pox is discovered, so her father turns the car around and heads home. The disappointed child is longing for her traditional holiday celebration when Grandma arrives with roast turkey and four snowplow drivers: she has offered them dinner in exchange for a ride to Charity's house. The bright watercolor paintings illustrate the story with warmth, humor, and a certain down-home zaniness. Featuring a satisfying story and appealing illustrations, this picture book is just right for reading aloud to classes in the fall, before the Thanksgiving holidays, and in the spring, during chicken pox season. Carolyn Phelan