Customer Reviews

The Can-Do Thanksgiving

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Can-Do Thanksgiving offers young children, their parents, and/or their teachers a vehicle in which to begin to explore the subject of homelessness, hunger, and the needy. Its strenth is that it's written in a format that kids can understand and have fun with. It will also give a child a feeling that perhaps in their own way they can do something. After all, we ask our kids donate cans of food to feed the hungry but it often ends there. Well, the cans do go somewhere and each one can help someone, somehow, in its own way. In The Can-Do Thanksgiving children will experience this first hand.

I am surprised that SLJ panned this title. I personally think it is excellently crafted and very age-appropriate for grade K-3 for teaching the spirit of community service. The main character approaches the service projects the way a kid might, and she works through her commitment to the project with the spirit of a kid. The book is not preachy and definitely not a downer, like "oh, look at these poor people and their lousy lives.." like some books that are intended to create sympathy do. The people who come to the church for the community Thanksgiving dinner are portrayed as normal people with dignity and the story does not create a sharp delineation between the children who are doing the service from the children who are receiving the service.
I am using this title with my Brownie Girl Scout troop to teach them about how children can go about helping in bigger projects that benefit the whole community.

Dee and her classmates collect canned goods for a local soup kitchen, then have the privilege of helping serve Thanksgiving dinner there. A warm story that shows if everyone does just a small part, it can make a big difference. A must read for every elementary school.