Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "'Twas the day before Thanksgiving And all through the trees, The fall leaves were spinning Aloft in the breeze..." (more)
Key Phrases: Mack Nuggett

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Patterned as a parody of the celebrated Clement Moore poem, this story of eight baby turkeys unfolds with joyous abandon and crackling vitality, as eight children embark on a Thanksgiving field trip that will change their lives forever. They are breathless as they catch sight of Farmer Mack Nuggett for the first time: "He was dressed all in denim, / From his head to his toe, / With a pinch of polyester / And a dash of Velcro." The exuberant turkeys--Ollie, Stanley, Larry, Moe, Wally, Beaver and Groucho--catch the children up in raucous barnyard antics until the merriment is quelled by the sight of the ax. Deeply touched by the turkeys' plight, the children--who have grown mysteriously fatter and have feathers sticking out from under their clothes--board the bus to go back to the city. The next night, family silhouettes can be seen--each with a grateful turkey guest--as "They feasted on veggies / With jelly and toast." This humorous, lighthearted story is adorned with bold, bright illustrations that convey a sense of wacky high-spiritedness sometimes lacking in traditional holiday fare. Ages 4-7.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Pilkey has adapted Clement Moore's classic poem for another holiday. The day before Thanksgiving finds eight boys and girls of various races taking a field trip to a turkey farm. Although Farmer Mack Nuggett seems kind at first, the children eventually discover his horrible plan to kill the turkeys for Thanksgiving dinners. Smuggling the turkeys home with them, the children save the birds, who join eight families for vegetarian dinners. The weakest part of this slapstick offering is the verse, in part because the story isn't at all parallel to Moore's and in part because of the stretches in rhyme to accommodate a pre-existing pattern. Some of the word play will escape children. Similarly, visual humor such as the placement of Farmer Nuggett and the teacher in an "American Gothic" pose will remain unappreciated by those too young for Grant Wood. The cartoon illustrations reinforce the story's general silliness but are unremarkable in themselves. Those seeking Thanksgiving humor will better served by Marc Brown's Arthur's Thanksgiving (Little, 1983), while those looking for a human-turkey relationship should dust off Lorna Balian's Sometimes It's Turkey, Sometimes It's Feathers (Abingdon, 1986). --Kathy Piehl, Mankato State University, MN
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic (September 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531059057
• ISBN-13: 978-0531059050
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #37,970 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for kids of all ages., November 13, 2004

By	Endfinity (somewhere over Oz) - See all my reviews

Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving follows the rhythm of Twas the Night Before Christmas, and this is definitely a book that should be read out loud. I'm sending this with my son to school so his teacher can read it to the class. I've told her about it, and she and the class are waiting for it! One of my favorite illustrations is where the children are hugging the happy little turkeys. (No, NOT a reality, but this is a CHILDREN'S book. We save a little reality for them later in Catcher In The Rye.) Also, I love the illustration of the children, suddenly turned all chubby, with turkey feathers sticking out from under their coats. Hmmm...

Maybe some of the naysayers of this book should stop and consider some old favorites. Snow White committed breaking and entering. Do they warn their children that they should not break into people's house and randomly clean, like Snow White? My goodness! We might have a nation of pint-sized bandits, compulsively cleaning stranger's houses...

And my eight year old son STILL does not like turkey at Thanksgiving, without reading Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving. He likes the mashed potatoes and stuffing, no matter how much I try to hide the turkey with the mashed potatoes...

Dav Pilkey is such a wonderful writer/illustrator of children's books. You should definitely check out his website, www.davpilkey.com. Mr. Pilkey, by the way, was not vegetarian when he wrote this or trying to send any "hippie, liberal" message. He's just an adult-sized kid who writes an entertaining book.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read it over and over!, November 12, 2000

By	Jo Blinkey (Escondido, CA United States) - See all my reviews

I am not a vegatarian, yet I love this book. It by no means ruins the Thanksgiving tradition, it only gives a comical view as to how a turkey might feel about Thanksgiving. I teach kindergarten and my class wants me to read this story over and over!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite, July 18, 2000

By A Customer

This is one of my favorite of all children's books. It's silly and touching, a difficult combination to achieve. The words and the pictures are perfect together. It gets people in touch with that childlike side that remembers what it's like when we first make that connection between food and a living creature.